Heart of the Cardboard
by Skipper311
Summary: Japhlet Gershon, armed with an overpowered deck from the future, perfect knowledge of the future, and sleeved cards, is ready to save the world. Honestly, he should have this all done within a year, tops. The only problem is that he's not allowed to. The only thing he's allowed to do is babysit Jaden Yuki as he saves the world. (But hell if that will stop him from trying.)
1. Prologue: Playing by the Rules

_I would like to thank Yay899, CelestiasDisciple, and Geminise for their prereading of this chapter._

* * *

Dreams are fickle things. They're fragments of your memories, haphazardly stuck together by your brain. Many who study the brain believe they're your mind's way of cleaning up, so that you can have a clear head the next day. And of course, countless people believe dreams have a spiritual component, revealing gateways to the spirit worlds or afterlife.

And as I learned one night, they also function as the preferred means of finding heroes for duel spirits.

"Rise, Japhlet Gershon. Hurry, we don't have much time." Something was shaking me, in an attempt to rouse me no doubt.

I blinked my eyes open, doing my wake-up ritual of stretching up before flopping back down. "That is the worst line to give someone who is a slow riser. Also," I muttered as my vision cleared and saw a young girl, clad with long red gloves, tall red boots, a pointy red hat, and a revealing red corset hovering above me. "I don't remember inviting anyone to stay the night. You're lucky you're cute; otherwise I would have already called campus security."

Then it occurred to me that the duel monster card, Apple Magician Girl, was hovering above me. "Okay, clearly I'm still asleep and having the strangest fantasy."

"Please don't talk about such things while I'm around. Your help is desperately needed to save the world of Duel Monsters."

"Even if there was some alternate reality where the whole 'Duel Monsters are magitech' thing existed, you've got the wrong soul to save it, I'm afraid. Since you're a Yu-Gi-Oh card, I'm guessing you're looking for some skilled duelist, which I'm not."

"You must trust me on this. You're the only one who can save our world."

"Look, I'm a statistician by trade, and that seems incredibly unlikely. You mean to tell me _no one else_ anywhere in the _world_ can save you? Also, what happened to Jaden, or Yugi, or Yuma? Just get them to save the world."

Now she was getting cross with me. "You are the chosen one; you must come with me. If you do not, our entire world shall be lost."

"How, exactly, am I going to save this alternate reality of yours?"

"Need I remind you to that, to me, you're from the alternate reality?" She huffed and crossed her arms. "Anyway, I'll send you to Duel Academy, where you'll enroll."

"Place is a damn magnet for villains and plots to take over the world, apparently," I muttered under my breath. "Why can't Jaden save the world? Lord knows he's done it enough times, why not one more?"

"This threat is not from within our universe, but from outside it. That is why we need you."

"What exactly is this threat?"

"In due time, but time is of the essence right now."

"But what about my life here? I have obligations here too, you know."

"Fear not. Your life here shall be preserved. You can even freely move between the two worlds."

"If I die there, will I die here? How much skin do I need to put in the game?"

"The fate of countless lives and souls are at stake, and you are concerned for your personal safety?"

"I have a life here. Family and friends I care about, far more than a universe I only just learned was real. Quite frankly, I could turn you down, wake up tomorrow, and even if all this is actually happening, I wouldn't lose much sleep over it."

For a pregnant moment, she said nothing. We just looked into each others' eyes. Slowly, I watched her eyes begin to pool with tears.

"…So be it." She closed her eyes, turned around, and began to fade from view.

Well, now I felt guilty. And, if I really was the only person who could save this reality, I had a moral obligation to help, didn't I? My required investment was already so low. I was going to keep every aspect of my life here, and I only needed to make sure I stayed alive. No small potatoes given I was going up against supernatural forces of light and darkness, but no one got to be a hero by doing nothing.

"Wait!" I cried before she fully disappeared. "I'm in. All in."

Suddenly, she rematerialized in full and swung back around. "Do you mean it?"

I nodded. "I'm in. I do have a few questions, though. Will I get to keep all my cards? I don't exactly use GX-era cards."

"Must you ask so many questions?" She sighed. "Yes, you may use all your cards, but it will be on you to answer the questions you will get should you use them."

"Will I keep my sleeves?"

"Your what?"

"My card sleeves. And deck boxes and binders, for that matter. No way am I walking around with unprotected cards."

Another sigh. "Yes, you will have those."

"Alright. So… what now?"

My answer was a wave of sparkles and magic from her wand.

* * *

"Honey, wake up. We're here."

I blinked my eyes open again, but this time I found myself in the car. Shaking myself awake, I patted myself down for my deck box. Sure enough, in the pocket of my hoodie was one of my deck boxes. A small grin on my face, I climbed out of the car, waved to my parents (in the Duel Monsters universe), and strolled over to the line. It was no short line, either; even though we had gotten early, dozens of kids were already in line, eager to enter the testing facility.

I did my best to tune out the chatter of the other applicants as I opened my deck box. Inside were my two favorite decks, Metaphys and Dinosaurs, snuggly sleeved. So the magician had kept her word. I breathed a sigh of relief. Truth be told, there was no way I would have been able to keep up with other duelists here without my favorite cards, and it didn't hurt that I had at least two decks that didn't exist anywhere else in this time and space. Still, I needed some good cover as to why I had cards no one else had. Actually, forget simply having unique cards - I had summoning methods that wouldn't exist for years.

Well, I could say I'm a time traveler from the future, come to stop a great evil. It wouldn't even be all that untrue. But who would believe me? I'd look like a loon, or a cheat with a bad cover story.

But what choice did I have? I wracked my brain for ideas, but nothing came. Oh well. I guess I'd burn that bridge when I got there.

Speaking of, I'd gotten to the sign-in table. A few signatures later, and I was on my way in for the written exam.

The written exams were surprisingly easy. Simple stuff like "List three ways to win other than reducing your opponent's Life Points to zero" and "What is the Spell Speed of a Counter Trap?" I was just glad they didn't have anything particularly hard like deck construction theory.

While taking the exam, I scanned the room for familiar faces. Any sign of the protagonists I knew from the show. Unfortunately, I didn't see anyone recognizable. Perhaps it was for the best. I would get tangled up with them soon enough. Right now, I had an exam to pass.

The written exam came and went uneventfully, to my relief. Now was the fun part. It was time to see if I could pass the practical exam - without drawing attention to myself.

* * *

"Japhlet Gershon, to Arena Three, please."

That was my cue. A brisk walk down, a quick check of my deck, and I was set… once I managed to squeeze my deck into the duel disk. Sleeving my cards might have kept them safe, but they did not make for easy duel disk use.

"I'm going to need to do something about that later," I muttered to myself. Still, I stood at attention, and nodded at my proctor, an aging man with a black vest on a while button-down.

"Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Drake Russo, and I'll be your proctor for today's exam. As a reminder, you do not need to win to pass, but it certainly looks better. Are you ready?"

"Well, it's too late to give up now. Your opponent is me!"

 **Duel Start - Dr. Drake Russo versus Japhlet Gershon**

 **Turn 1 - Dr. Russo**

 **Dr. Russo - 4000 LP, 5 Cards in hand**

 **Japhlet - 4000 LP, 5 Cards in hand**

Dr. Russo drew his card. "I'll go first. First, I'll-"

"Hey, what are you on? It's the first turn!"

"Yes, what about it?"

Oh, I had forgotten people here drew on the first turn. That was going to throw me for a loop several times before I got used to it.

"Never mind. Slight rules difference from where I come from. People don't draw on the first turn back home."

"Interesting. We'll have to teach you how to duel properly if you're accepted. Anyway, I summon Memory Crusher in attack position, and set two facedowns. It's your turn."

I rolled my eyes internally. Yeah, I was the one who needed to be taught how to duel properly here.

 **Memory Crusher (1000 ATK/600 DEF)**

 **Turn 2 - Japhlet**

 **Dr. Russo - 4000 LP, 3 Cards in hand**

 **Japhlet - 4000 LP, 5 Cards in hand**

"It's my Draw Phase, so I draw."

I looked over my hand. Unfortunately, I had drawn into a pretty bad brick. My only monster was a Level 6, not even a part of my archetype, and I had no searchers for monsters in hand. All I could do was cycle my hand and hope for a monster.

"Alright, let's have a little more excitement. I activate Terraforming, which lets me search my deck for a field spell. And I'm looking for an X-Factor. Or rather, a Metaphys Factor, which is added to my hand. But why stop there? I activate Metaphys Factor!"

The duel arena around us was shrouded in a stardust-purple glow. The professor raised an eyebrow at me. "Well, it's not every day I see a card I've never seen before, and I've been dueling for over thirty years."

I smiled back. "Glad I could show you something new. Here, I'm allowed to normal summon Metaphys monsters without a tribute, but they're banished at the end of your turn. But that's not very pressing right now, when I have two copies of Asymmetaphys to activate!"

When had I started shouting and narrating everything I was doing? Oh, right, I had always done that when I dueled. Must have watched too much anime growing up. Besides, it was fun to ham it up. And at least here, the stakes were on par with the cheese.

"Now I'll activate the effect of one of my Asymmetraphyses to banish another copy of Asymmetaphys from my hand so I can draw one card. And I drew… Metaphys Nephthys!" What a relief. If I hadn't drawn a monster, I would have taken at least 2500 damage from Memory Crusher, and that was discounting any other cards. "But before I can summon him, I got a few more effects to resolve - the effects of my two Asymmetaphyses. Whenever a Metaphys card I own is banished during my turn, all non-Metaphys monsters lose 500 ATK and DEF points. And since I have two copies of Asymmetraphys out, that doubles to a thousand-point reduction for your Memory Crusher."

 **Memory Crusher (1000 ATK/600 DEF - 0 ATK/0 DEF)**

"With that out of the way, I summon Metaphys Nephthys - without a sacrifice necessary thanks to Metaphys Factor."

 **Metaphys Nephthys (2400 ATK/1600 DEF)**

"I enter my Battle Phase. Metaphys Nephthys declares an attack on your Memory Crusher! Metaphysical Phoenix Flare!" Purple flame engulfed my monster as it eyed the proctor's fiend.

Dr. Russo smirked at me. "Now see here! I activate my trap card, Doble Passe. When you declare an attack on a face-up attack position monster I control, I change your attack target to me instead!" As the flames shot out of Nephthys' wings, they arced around the Memory Crusher and struck Dr. Russo instead.

 **Dr. Russo LP 4000 - 1600**

"I should thank you, young man. Because you reduced my Memory Crusher's ATK to zero, I took no extra damage compared to battle between our two monsters, and my monster is safe."

"But you lose out on Doble Passe's second effect, which deals your monster's attack points to me in effect damage. With Memory Crusher's ATK at zero, I take no damage."

"But if you know about Doble Passe's second effect, then surely you remember it's third effect, which means now Memory Crusher gets to attack you directly on my upcoming turn. And Memory Crusher has a special effect when it attacks directly."

"Well, before that, I'll set a card, then I end my turn."

 **Turn 3 - Dr. Russo**

 **Dr. Russo - 1600 LP, 3 Cards in hand**

 **Japhlet - 4000 LP, 1 Card in hand**

"I draw." The proctor drew his card, and nodded at his draw.

"Yeah, and now that it's your Standby Phase, I'll activate my Metaphys Dimension trap card! It won't do anything right now, but it'll kick in soon."

"Well, now it's my first Main Phase, and I normal summon the Goblin Recon Squad."

 **Goblin Recon Squad (1700 ATK/0 DEF)**

"And as for my Battle Phase, I'll have Memory Crusher attack you directly!"

The fiend flew past my phoenix and straight at me, taking a swipe. I winced in pain, as is the proper protocol for holographic combat.

 **Japhlet LP 4000 - 3000**

"And from my hand, I'll activate the quick-play Sebek's Blessing! Now I gain life points equal to the battle damage you took, so I'm up a thousand points."

 **Dr. Russo LP 1600 - 2600**

"And now Memory Crusher's effect activates, dealing 100 damage for each monster in your Fusion Deck. I count fifteen monsters, so that's another 1500 points of damage!"

The man didn't need to know my Extra Deck didn't have a single Fusion Monster. Not yet.

 **Japhlet LP 3000 - 1500**

"I should thank you, young man. Because you reduced my Memory Crusher's ATK to zero, using Doble Passe didn't cause me to take any extra battle damage, and I still kept my monster safe."

"I'd like to point out you spent three cards to deal only one hundred more damage than I did with only one card. You might have dealt a little more damage, but I'll trade a hundred life points down for two cards up in card advantage any day." Dropping technical statements like that was a bit on-the-nose, but hopefully it would make me look good from an examination standpoint.

"Ahh, but life gain is another form of card advantage, isn't it? After all, more life points means more breathing room to draw cards."

"That may be true, but it's a way worse form of card advantage. If my monsters have enough attack points, your life point won't net you any extra time."

"Well, let's make sure I have that extra time, then. I activate my face-down card, Gravity Bind! Now monsters Level 4 and above cannot declare attacks. And I'm willing to wager you don't have too many monsters that fit the bill."

"No, but I have plenty enough backrow removal to deal with that. I hope you didn't pin your entire strategy around that one card."

"Certainly not, and to prove it I'll set another card face-down before ending my turn."

I held my hand out, finger extended to pause him. "Since now it's the end phase, Metaphys Nephthys is banished due to the effect of Metaphys Factor. But don't worry, he'll be back." Metaphys Nepthys flew into the sky and vanished.

"And now that a Metaphys card I own has been banished, the effects of my three face-up backrow cards are triggered! I'll resolve Metaphys Dimension first, which lets me banish one of the cards you control. So say goodbye to your Gravity Bind!" A vortex opened up underneath the card, sucking it in and away.

"And now the effects of my Asymmetraphyses activate! Whenever a Metaphys card I own is banished on my opponents turn, the battle position of all non-Metaphys monsters switches! So the first one switches both your monsters to defense mode, and the second switches them back to attack mode."

"So we're going in circles now?"

"Hey, that's pretty important, because with your monsters in attack position, if I topdeck the right card, I'm going to win this upcoming turn!

"…Topdeck?"

 **Turn 4 - Dr. Russo**

 **Dr. Russo - 2600 LP, 2 Cards in hand**

 **Japhlet - 1500 LP, 1 Card in hand**

Before I drew, I puzzled over the state of the game. He had two monsters, both relatively weak, but protected by his face-down. Knowing where I was, it was probably a battle trap to negate my attack and probably do something unpleasant to me, too. I would still win the long game, but I had just predicted my victory this turn, and I didn't want to make a liar out of myself.

" _Ore no_ _… tan!_ "

I looked at my draw - Unmasked Dragon. A grin spread across my face.

"You lose, professor."

The professor inclined his head at me. "Is that so?"

"Let's find out together, shall we? In the Standby Phase after it's banished, Metaphys Nephthys is shuffled back into my deck, and I'm allowed to add a Metaphys monster from my deck to my hand other than another copy of Metaphys Nephthys. So I'll add Metaphys Daedalus to my hand."

I paused. In order for my plan to work, his face-down had to be a battle trap, or at least a trap that wouldn't stop a summoning like Bottomless Trap Hole. If he did stop my summon, then I'd be left wide open for an attack, and without a trap in my deck that stopped battles, I would be done for. I could remove the trap by banishing Metaphys Daeadlus right now, but then my plan wouldn't work, and I couldn't win this turn. The smart play would be to play it safe, and win in the following turns.

Oh well.

"All in! I normal summon Unmasked Dragon! Response?"

A pregnant pause. "No." Was the professor… smiling?

 **Unmasked Dragon (1400 ATK/1100 DEF)**

I returned the expression. "Now I activate the effect of one of my Asymmetaphyses, and banish Metaphys Daedalus from my hand to draw one card! But more importantly, the effects of both my Asymmetraphyses kick in, and all non-Metaphys monsters lose a total of 1000 ATK and DEF points!"

 **Memory Crusher (1000 ATK/600 DEF - 0 ATK/0 DEF)**

 **Goblin Recon Squad (1700 ATK/0 DEF - 700 ATK/0 DEF)**

 **Unmasked Dragon (1400 ATK/1100 DEF - 400 ATK/100 DEF)**

"Furthermore, the effect of my Metaphys Dimension also triggers, and I can banish one card you control! So I'll send your face-down backrow to the stars!" A crack appeared across the card, warping it away - but not before revealing its identity: Negate Attack.

I grinned. "Now you have nothing to stop my attacks."

The professor shook his head. "It seems you made a mistake. Had you summoned Unmasked Dragon after you banished your monster, it would have hit the field at full strength, and you could have destroyed my Goblin Recon Squad. But now it's had its strength reduced too, and my Goblin Recon Squad is still stronger."

"Exactly."

"Huh?"

"I enter the Battle Phase! Unmasked Dragon declares an attack on Goblin Recon Squad! Unmasked Blaze!"

"But my Goblin Recon Squad has more attack points! Your dragon will be destroyed!"

Sure enough, the goblins pounded my dragon.

 **Japhlet LP 1500 - 1200**

"The effect of Unmasked Dragon activates! When it's destroyed in battle and sent to the Graveyard, I'm allowed to special summon a Wyrm monster with 1500 or fewer DEF from my deck. And I choose my Metaphys Armed Dragon!"

Dramatically, I pointed to the sky.

" _Now comes the reincarnation of a legendary dragon!_

 _Witness the transcendent power of a new reality!_

 _Appear from ether! Metaphys Armed Dragon!_ _"_

 **Metaphys Armed Dragon (2800 ATK/1000 DEF)**

"But why didn't you just add him to your hand at the start of your turn? With Metaphys Factor, you could have summoned him without a tribute and attacked for game."

"Surely you're not this dense, professor. Had I done that, you would have stopped my attack with Negate Attack, and then you'd be in a position to topdeck a game-winning card."

The man smiled and shook his head. "Well, don't just stand there, young man. Finish the duel."

"With pleasure. Armed Dragon declares an attack on Memory Crusher! Cosmic Claw Slice!"

 **Mr. Russo LP 2600 - 0**

I walked up to the proctor as the holograms faded to shake his hand. "Thanks for the duel."

He took my hand and shook it. "It was a pleasure. I hope to see you at Duel Academy."

I smiled. I knew I was in.


	2. Welcome to the Show

_I would like to thank Yay899, CelestiasDisciple, and Geminise for their prereading of this chapter._

* * *

I lugged the last of my stuff in to the room. I had arrived first, so hopefully I would get the chance to set up before my roommate arrived.

"So you're my roommate? Pleasure to meet you."

Or not.

I rose from my unpacking and shook my roommate's hand. "Nice to meet you. Name's Japhlet Gershon, but most people call me Japh. Like Jeff, but with an 'aah' sound."

He smiled at me. "Gotcha. I'm Erik Chaplan. Guess we'll be together these next three years."

I shot him a good-natured grin. "Ahh, I'm afraid that won't be the case. I've got higher sights than Ra Yellow, and I'm afraid the Blue dorms are mostly singles. I'm going to be here six months, a year tops."

He raised an eyebrow, amused. "Oh, is that so? You have plans to go pro, that's why you're raring to get out of her so fast?"

"Uhh, no, I…" I grinned sheepishly. "I… mostly want into Obelisk Blue because they have singles. That's it, really."

"And that's enough reason to get into the top dorm before the year is out?"

"Private living space is a powerful motivator."

We shared a laugh. "Well, guess I've got no choice but to keep up. If my roommate promotes and I don't, that's just a bad look."

Smile still lingering on my face, I gestured to the mess of boxes and luggage. "Well, we have two choices. We can do the wise thing and finish unpacking, or we can go to the welcome luncheon."

Of course, we did the unwise thing.

* * *

After the rather generic welcoming remarks, we dug in into the food. Small blessing I started at Ra. The food here was no different than cafeteria food back home. Slifer Red's poor accommodations were funny - until I contemplated the possibility of living in them!

While we were eating, Erik and I made small talk. "So, what kind of deck do you run? Rumors say you have a one-of-a-kind deck that you used for your entrance exam."

Oh, great, there were rumors about me already. How long was I going to be able to keep my cover?

For now, I chose to deflect. "Anyone can posit possibilities. What matters evidence."

"And you have the best evidence of them all."

I walked right into that one. He had me there. Still, I wasn't about to spill my secrets. "We're roommates. We'll see each other's decks soon enough. I'm not about to spill my secrets to the whole dorm."

That seemed to placate him for now. While chewing, I searched the room for Bastion Misawa. I hadn't decided if I was going to introduce myself any more than a resident getting to know his fellow students, but I did need "ins" to the soon-to-be big names on campus. Unfortunately, spotting a man wearing a yellow blazer was hard when everyone was wearing a yellow blazer. Bastion had a distinct haircut, but not so wildly distinct that I could spot him in this crowd.

Lucky for me, providence was smiling upon me. As we were returning to our dorms, I spotted him down the hallway. Turns out we were neighbors. Convenient. I made a note to knock on his door later and introduce myself under the pretense of getting to know my neighbors.

But for now, I had unpacking to finish.

* * *

It took a few hours to square everything in its place, but finally everything was tucked away. I idly took out my binders and flipped through my card collection.

Evidently, the notion was rather curious to Erik, who came up behind me. "You keep your cards in binders?"

I nodded. "Sometimes in tins, but mostly in binders. Keeps them safe and since I organize certain cards into different binders, makes finding cards way easier."

He cocked his head. "Huh. Never considered it. And what's that you have around the cards?"

"Those are sleeves," I said, taking a sleeved card out of the binder and handing it to him for him to examine. "Makes shuffling easier, keeps the edges from fraying, slows card bending, keeps them safe from greasy fingers and various hazards like spillage. Any card I use even somewhat regularly gets sleeved."

Erik turned the card over in his hand a couple times. "How do you get these to fit in a duel disk?"

I chuckled. "With great effort. I used to bring a small folding table around with me instead whenever I went to dueling events, because I didn't want to damage the sleeves or the cards by jamming my deck into the slot. Eventually…" I paused as I got up and fished my own duel disk out of my closet. "…I just banged on the deck slot with a hammer until it was comfortably wide enough for my sleeves." I handed the duel disk to him, and he inspected the slot, running his hand against the bumps and pinches, clear signs of tampering. "The auto-search mechanism is busted because of it, but I think it's a small price to pay."

He nodded noncommittally, handing the disk back to me, and I put it away.

"So, now we're alone. Let's see this deck of yours."

Putting my binder away, I searched through my deck boxes. As I was searching, I felt Erik hovering over me. "Are you always this nosy?"

He snorted. "Come to think of it, I guess. But then again, it's not every day you meet someone who puts his cards in plastic sleeves, and then puts those sleeves in boxes or binders.

"Speaking of, you have a lot of decks."

I shrugged. "I like my decks like I like my women - with plenty of variety."

Erik barked out a laugh as I took out my Metaphys deck. "Here it is. This is the deck I used for my entrance exam. It's focused the Metaphys archetype, which centers around banishing its monsters, then shuffling them back in on the next turn to activate searching effects."

Erik read a couple of the cards before putting them back in the box and handing them back to me. I may have hover handed intently to keep him from digging too deeply and finding the Synchro monsters. Those could wait for another day.

"So, what's your deck?

He pulled his deck out of his pocket. I had to fight a shudder from seeing the worn cards, clearly victims of being unsleeved. "I play Lightsworns. They're just cool, you know? This group of inter-dimensional heroes that fight evil all over the multiverse, there's something about them I love. And uh," he blushed as he confessed, "I might have a card crush on Celestia." He held his deck out to me. "You wanna take a look?"

Nodding, I accepted and quickly thumbed through his deck. I noted he had several cards in his deck that were Forbidden back home - Monster Reborn, for example. That was something that was going to take some getting used to. Then again, given my entire deck and almost my entire collection was probably illegal due to not existing yet, I wasn't in much of a position to talk.

I handed his deck back to him, but he didn't put it away. "You wanna have a duel, right now?"

I mulled it over. Truthfully, the day had been boring, and a duel would be fun. But I had more important priorities. "I would, but I was thinking we should go around, get to know our neighbors on our floor. I'm heading out, you coming?"

He shrugged and nodded, placing his deck in his pocket as I placed my deck box in mine.

It was time to do some networking.

* * *

"One moment!" I chuckled as Bastion called from his room when we knocked. No doubt he had been preoccupied with some new formula about deckbuilding. But after a minute, he opened the door and welcomed us in. His luggage was open, and various personal fixings were throughout the whole room. "Sorry about the mess. I wasn't expected company so soon."

I waved his concern off. "It's fine. We only just finished unpacking ourselves, and we figured we'd get to know the neighbors. My name's Japhlet, and that's Erik." Erik offered a friendly wave himself.

"Bastion. Bastion Misawa." He offered his hand in handshake, and Erik and I took it and accepted in turn.

"So, what kind of deck do you use?" Erik leaned inquisitively, just like he had back in our room.

"My deck?" Bastion smirked and threw open his blazer, revealing his vest and all six of his decks. "I think you mean, my _decks_. One for each attribute in the game."

"Man, that's two people I've met now that have multiple decks. Whatever happened to one deck you stick with, one that has all your favorite cards?"

Bastion shook his head. "Dueling is just like any math problem. Every opponent is a problem, and you build your decks as the solution. That's why I have different decks for different scenarios and opponents."

I shrugged. "I'm not so high-strung about my decks. Like I said, I like my decks like my women - with lots of variety."

Bastion smiled. "Well, I can see already this is going to be a very interesting year. Now, I hate to be rude, but I do need to finish unpacking."

Nodding and waving goodbye, we continued our round throughout the floor, meeting and greeting our floormates. There certainly were some interesting characters. But as far as I was concerned, I had met everyone I needed to for tonight.

* * *

Dinner was uneventful, and we were soon back in our room making our last adjustments to the place before we turned in. At least, I figured that was the plan.

"Come on. One duel before lights out."

"Erik, we have class tomorrow, and a look at both our schedules shows we both have early morning booked."

"Ahh, man, it'll be a quick one. We'll play sudden death."

"Yeah, then we'll get all worked up, want to finish the duel, and won't be able to sleep."

Erik huffed and groaned, conceding. "Fine. But we duel tomorrow."

I grinned. "Yeah, so you better get ready." I pointed at the clock: 11:59 PM. "Because tomorrow is coming in less than a minute."

Erik returned the smile, sprung out of his bed and ran for his duel disk and deck. I couldn't stop a chuckle as I got out of bed myself and got my own gear.

"How about I teach you how we duel back where I come from?" I slid my deck into my disk. "Our Duel Monsters rules are slightly different; we play by a set of rules called 'Master Rule Four.' There's a few key differences."

"Sure, I'm game. What's different?"

"First: We start at eight thousand life points instead of four. Second, on the first turn of the duel, you don't draw during your Draw Phase. Third, we're each only allowed one monster from the Extra Deck at a time, and it goes in a special place called the Extra Monster Zone instead of the normal five monster zones, which are called Main Monster Zones. Fourth… well, let's just say there's a reason we call it the _Extra_ Deck and not the _Fusion_ Deck." I winked. "I have to keep some surprises up my sleeve."

"Well, that sounds interesting. I'll give it a shot. Duel disk, engage!" The familiar hum and whir of our disks activating, and we were on.

 **Duel Start - Erik Chaplan versus Japhlet Gershon**

 **Turn 1 - Erik**

 **Erik - 8000 LP, 5 Cards in hand**

 **Japhlet - 8000 LP, 5 Cards in hand**

"I'll take the first turn. I draw!"

"No, you don't. First turn doesn't draw, remember?"

"Oh. Right." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and returned the card to his deck and shuffled.

"Anyway, I normal summon Aurkus, the Lightsworn Druid!"

 **Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid (1200 ATK/1800 DEF)**

"I set two cards face-down and end my turn. And now that we're in my End Phase, the effect of my Lightsworn Druid kicks in, and sends two cards from the top of my deck to my graveyard." Erik did as the card required, sending the two cards to the graveyard - Jain, the Lightsworn Paladin and Ehrin, the Lightsworn Monk.

 **Turn 2 - Japhlet**

 **Erik - 8000 LP, 2 Cards in hand**

 **Japhlet - 8000 LP, 5 Cards in hand**

"It's my turn now. I enter the Draw Phase, and draw a card."

I mulled over my hand and the game state before acting. Erik was playing Lightsworns, which revolved around sending their cards from the deck to the graveyard. Milling, in technical terms. Because of this, Lightsworns were often combined with other cards and archetypes which benefited from sending their own cards to the graveyard. However, I had a hunch Erik was playing pure Lightsworns, which meant he had one goal - bring out Judgment Dragon by dumping four Lightsworns with different names and summoning Judgment Dragon from his hand. If he did, for the cost of a thousand life points, he could destroy all other cards on the field, then follow up with a direct attack with a three-thousand attack beater. Power crept by modern boss monsters, but pretty powerful for its day. Even now, I only had a couple monsters that could go toe-to-toe with it in battle without support, and only a couple monsters that were immune to effect destruction, and most of those monsters were in my Extra Deck.

All that added up to one conclusion - I had to win fast, before Judgment Dragon hit the field.

"I activate Asymmetaphys. And now I activate Asymmetaphys' effect!"

"Wait, isn't that the same thing?"

"No, and if you get into the weeds of complex cards, you better learn the difference fast! Activating a card is not the same as activating its effect. Some cards will negate activations, others will negate effects, and knowing which is which will save you a lot of headaches down the line. When I first played Asymmetaphys, that was when I activated the card. But Asymmetaphys doesn't do anything on its activation. In order for it to do something, I need to activate its _effect_.

"Which is what I'm doing right now! I banish Metaphys Nephthys from my hand, and draw one card." I looked at the card I drew: Metaphys Tyrant Dragon. A pretty bad draw, quite frankly; unless I had another banished Metaphys Tyrant Dragon ready to summon this one form my hand, I would much rather have this in the deck so I could summon it with Metaphys Ragnarok. Still, if I could draw Metaphys Factor, nothing wrong with being able to put down a 2900-2500 body without a tribute.

"And now, the other effect of Asymmetaphys triggers! All non-Metaphys monsters lose 500 ATK and DEF points, so your Lightsworn Druid takes a hit."

 **Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid (1200 ATK/1800 DEF - 700 ATK/1300 DEF)**

"As for Metaphys monsters, it's time for you to meet one of mine! Rise for me, Metaphys Ragnarok!"

 **Metaphys Ragnarok (1500 ATK/1000 DEF)**

"Man, that guy is cool. But even though his attack points are higher than my Lightsworn Druid's, it's nothing I can't handle."

"Well, after this effect you may not be so sure. When Metaphys Ragnarok is summoned, I'm allowed to banish the top three cards from my deck, and for every Metaphys card banished this way, Ragnarok gains 300 attack points! Let's see, I banish… Sacred Sword of the Seven Stars, Necroface, and.. Metaphys Daedalus. That's one Metaphys card, so Metaphys Ragnarok gains 300 attack points.

 **Metaphys Ragnarok (1500 ATK/1000 DEF - 1800 ATK/1000 DEF)**

"Furthermore, because I banished Necroface, we both have to banish five cards from the top of our decks. What you banish won't be terribly important, but since my Metaphys monsters have effects that trigger the turn after they're banished, what I banish is critical. And the Metaphys monsters I banish are… another Metaphys Daedalus, Metaphys Tyrant Dragon, and Metaphys Armed Dragon."

As Erik was banishing cards, he scowled, and I looked over at his banished pile to see that one of the cards he had banished was Judgment Dragon. I let out a breath of relief. He may have run multiples, but knowing even one copy was out of play was some breathing room.

"Now, with all that out of the way, I enter the Battle Phase! Metaphys Ragnarok declares an attack on Aurkus, the Lightsworn Druid!"

 **Erik LP 8000 - 6900**

"And now Metaphys Ragnarok's special ability triggers! Because I dealt battle damage with Metaphys Ragnarok, I'm allowed to summon another Metaphys monster from my deck that's Level 5 or higher one per turn."

I frowned as I searched through my deck. I wanted to summon Metaphys Tyrant Dragon, which had 2900 attack points and was a Level 8, allowing me to Synchro Summon Assault Blackwing - Onimaru the Divine Thunder after my Battle Phase. Onimaru couldn't be destroyed by card effects, and with 3000 ATK, it was only challenged by his Judgment Dragon's attack points. But because Onimaru couldn't be destroyed by card effects, Erik couldn't use use Judgment Dragon's effect to get rid of Onimaru. He'd have to trade into it, and with one Judgment Dragon already banished, he'd have no more win conditions.

There was just one problem. I only ran two copies of Metaphys Tyrant Dragon, and one was banished and the other one was in my hand. I'd have to settle for Plan B.

"I special summon Metaphys Armed Dragon!"

 **Metaphys Armed Dragon (2800 ATK/1000 DEF)**

"And it's still my battle phase, so Metaphys Armed Dragon attacks you directly! Cosmic Claw Slice!"

 **Erik LP 6900 - 4100**

"My Battle Phase is over, but I'm not ending my turn just yet. I enter Main Phase Two! Time for my to show you how me like to summon monsters back home. You see, Metaphys Ragnarok is a special kind of monster, called a Tuner. And you need Tuners to special summon a very special kind of monster from the extra deck. I need the sum of the Levels of the monsters used as material to equal the Level of the monster I plan to summon.

"But you know what they say - show, don't tell. So I'll show you! Level 4 Metaphys Ragnarok tunes the Level 7 Metaphys Armed Dragon!"

 **Metaphys Ragnarok (4) + Metaphys Armed Dragon (7) = Star Eater (11)**

"I Synchro Summon!"

"Synchro _what?_ "

" _Now witness the beast that consumes the cosmos!_

 _In its presence even the stars are like dust!_

 _Be birthed by creation! Star Eater!_ _"_

A dim light grew. It grew and grew until it burst into a star, cosmic fire raging. Out of the star emerged a pair of black wings with red skin, each as long as the star was wide. As a flare emerged and shot around the star, a mouth emerged from the star and swallowed the flare in one bite. Then the whole beast rose out of the flames, revealing a dragon three times the size of the star, red with black accents, molten stardust dripping off it.

 **Star Eater (3200 ATK/2800 DEF)**

Erik stumbled back into the wall, terror and awe mixed on his face. "That's amazing! I've never seen anything like it! The bonding of monsters, the monster it creates, the speed, the power… it's incredible! Does everyone duel with those kinds of monsters where you come from?"

"Well, they're just another tool in the toolbox back home. And need I remind you, _you_ _'re_ the one who's going to have to take down that monster."

"I know." He chuckled. "But I believe in cards. I know they can do it."

"Well, I'll set one card face-down and give you your shot."

 **Turn 3 - Erik**

 **Erik - 4100 LP, 2 Cards in hand**

 **Japhlet - 8000 LP, 1 Card in hand**

"Man, no wonder you guys play with eight thousand life points," Erik said as he drew. "I nearly lost four thousand in one turn. I like it. More room for power plays while still giving room to go back and forth."

"Well, now it's the Standby Phase, and since my monsters have effects on the turn after they're banished, you better sit tight, because I have some things to do.

"First, I resolve Metaphys Nephtys-"

"Well, before you do that," Erik interrupted, "I'm going to chain Beckoning Light! Now I-"

"Now you have to wait, because to that I'll chain Metaphys Dimension! Response?"

Erik shook his head.

"So the chain resolves. Metaphys Dimension activates."

"And now Beckoning Light activates. I send my hand to the graveyard, then I can add Light-attribute monsters to my hand from the graveyard equal to the number of the cards I sent to the graveyard. So I send the three cards in my hand to the graveyard."

Wulf, Lightsworn Beast; Ryoko, Lightsworn Hunter; and Celestia, Lightsworn Angel. All Lightsworns with different names. But he'd have to pull three monsters back out, so he couldn't set up his graveyard for Judgment Dragon yet.

"And now I pull out three LIGHT monsters from my grave. So I'll add Jain, Lightsworn Paladin; Ehren, Lightsworn Monk; and Celestia, Lightsworn Angel to my hand. Also, because Wulf, the Lightsworn Beast was sent to the graveyard by a card effect, he's special summoned onto the field."

 **Wulf, Lightsworn Beast (2100 ATK/300 DEF)**

"Well, now that you've special summoned a monster, Metaphys Dimension triggers, allowing me to special summon a banished Metaphys monster, but banish it at the end of the next turn. And I think I'll bring out my Metaphys Tyrant Dragon!"

 **Metaphys Tyrant Dragon (2900 ATK/2500 DEF)**

"Finally, Metaphys Nephthys activates at the end of the chain, shuffling itself back into the deck and adding a Metaphys card to my hand. I'll add Metaphys Factor.

"Next, I'll resolve one of my Metaphys Daedaluses. I shuffle it back into the deck and banish a Metaphys card, and I think I'll choose Metaphys Nephthys.

"Because I banished a Meatphys card while Metaphys Dimension was active, it triggers, allowing me to banish one card you control, so I'll banish your face-down backrow!" The set card was sent away, and I grinned as I saw what it was - Brain Control. That could have been messy.

"Asymmetaphys has the same trigger condition, and since its your turn, all non-Metaphys monsters switch battle positions. So Star Eater and Wulf are switched to defense mode."

"Now I-" I paused. I had another Metaphys Daedalus I could resolve, but since both Asymmetaphys and Metaphys Dimension's effects were once per turn, banishing another Metaphys card wouldn't do me much good. Furthermore, if Erik special summoned another monster down the line, it would pay to have at least one monster banished and ready to be special summoned by Metaphys Dimension. "Now the Standby Phase ends."

Erik huffed. "Finally! I tribute Wulf, Lightsworn Beast to tribute summon Celestia, Lightsworn Angel! And when she comes out to play, some major things happen. First, I send the top four cards from my deck to my graveyard. Next, I'm allowed to destroy two cards you control. And I think I'll choose your Star Eater and Metaphys Tyrant Dragon!"

"Uh oh…." In a burst of radiant light, my two monsters were gone - and those were no small potatoes monsters, either.

"And now, with no monsters in the way and no face-down cards to feat, Celestia, the Lightsworn Angel, attacks you directly!"

 **Japhlet LP 8000 - 5700**

"I end my turn. Now I'm in the driver's seat of this duel."

I grimaced. Despite everything I had going for me, Erik had seized control of this duel in one turn. And if I wasn't careful, I was going to lose my first duel as a student at Duel Academy.


	3. Shining Draw

_I would like to thank Yay899, CelestiasDisciple, and Geminise for their prereading of this chapter._

* * *

I scowled. Erik had just taken down two of my strongest monsters in one turn, and my hand was in no position to stage a comeback.

 **Turn 4 - Japhlet**

 **Erik - 4100 LP, 2 Cards in hand**

 **Japhlet - 5700 LP, 2 Cards in hand**

"I draw!"

On my field were my two Metaphys support cards, Asymmetaphys and Metaphys Dimension. I looked over my hand. PSY-Framegear Gamma, Metaphys Factor, and the freshly drawn Metaphys Armed Dragon. On his field was Celestia, the Lightsworn Angel. A 2300 ATK beater with no relevant effects at the moment. Taking her down wouldn't be the problem. My concern was that Erik's graveyard was now primed to summon Judgment Dragon the moment he drew it. The good news was that Erik was almost down half his life points, and I knew at least one Judgment Dragon was banished.

"I activate Metaphys Factor! This allows me to summon Metahys monsters without a tribute, as long as I banish them at the end of the following turn. And lucky me, I just drew one, so rise for me, Metaphys Armed Dragon!"

 **Metaphys Armed Dragon (2800 ATK/1000 DEF)**

It wasn't really luck. Over a quarter of my deck were valid summon targets for Metaphys Factor, and because my deck recycled those monsters into my deck after banishing them, as I used up my other cards, my chance of drawing them only increased.

"I enter the Battle Phase! Metaphys Armed Dragon attacks Celestia, Lightsworn Angel! Cosmic Claw Slice!" With one swipe, my dragon slammed down on the angel and her sword. In one push, it broke her sword, then broke her.

 **Erik LP 4100 - 3600**

"I end my turn."

 **Turn 5 - Erik**

 **Erik - 3600 LP, 2 Cards in Hand**

 **Japhlet - 57 LP, 1 Card in Hand**

"And now it's mine! I draw! I'll normal summon Ehren, Lightsworn Monk and enter the End Phase! Now Ehren's effect activates! Three cards go from my deck to my graveyard."

My eyes widened as he milled the cards. Among them was Judgment Dragon. "Looks like you just sunk yourself. Now with one copy of Judgment Dragon banished another in your grave, you're counting on drawing one last copy out of the rest of your deck… if you even run three copies."

Erik just smiled. "Come on now. You don't really think I have no ways of getting cards out of my graveyard? I played Beckoning Light in this very duel! I just need to draw the right card, and Judgment Dragon will be right by my side."

"Well, you're not the only one with end-of-turn effects. Now because I summoned Metaphys Armed Dragon without tribute through Metaphys Factor, it's banished, and because a Metaphys card was banished, Metaphys Dimension allows me to banish one of your cards with it. So say goodbye to your Lightsworn Monk!" As Metaphys Armed Dragon stepped into the portal to a different dimension, he grabbed Ehren and took her with him. "Now your field is empty, and with Metaphys Factor on my field, I'm primed to put out another beater on my fiend."

"Don't count me out yet, because I still believe in my deck, and it believes in me!"

"Well, your deck will have to wait, because it's my turn now!"

 **Turn 6 - Japhlet**

 **Erik - 3600 LP, 2 Cards in Hand**

 **Japhlet - 5700 LP, 1 Card in Hand**

"I draw!" I looked at the card I drew and scowled. Asymmetaphys. Not what I was hoping for. I considered using the Asymmetaphys on my field to banish the one in my hand and draw another card. But what cards could I use to win this turn? Metaphys Ragnarok was one. I could swing, use its ability to summon another monster, and swing for game.

While it wouldn't win me the duel this turn, I could also set up a near-insurmountable field with Metaphys Executor, since Metaphys Executor stood tall with an impressive 3000 ATK and could not be destroyed or banished by card effects. But Metaphys Executor required me to banish five Metaphys cards with different names from my field or graveyard. With three such cards in my grave, I would need to banish two from my field, which would require pitching all but one of Metaphys Factor, Metaphys Dimension, or Asymmetaphys. Furthermore, Erik might have had attack and defense point-manipulating cards, which Executor was not immune to. And if Erik got Judgment Dragon out next turn, even if he couldn't remove Executor by its effect, he could still destroy whatever else I could manage to bring out, trade Judgment Dragon for Executor, and then I'd be reduced to topdecking while he would still have cards to play.

The alternative would be to sit on the Asymmetaphys in my hand, wait for Erik to make his move, then play from there. With more cards in my hand, I could make a more informed decision, and with cards on his field, the effects of Asymmetaphys and Metaphys Dimension would bring value. But that assumed that those cards would still be on my field. It was perfectly possible that those support cards would be wiped out during Erik's turn anyway, and then I would have no choice but to play the Asymmetaphys in my hand.

I grimaced. Asymmetaphys was not a particularly good card have with such a small hand. Even if I drew a card that I could cycle with Asymmetaphys, that was only one extra shot at drawing a card I could play. The problem was that no single card I had turn the duel around; at best, they would stall.

"You're taking an awful long time to take your turn considering you only have two cards in your hand," Erik teased.

"That's precisely why I'm taking so long. Come now, patience is a virtue." He huffed, but said nothing else.

His words did remind me of the other card in my hand: PSY-Framegear Gamma. If I controlled no monsters, and Erik activated a monster effect, I could negate it, destroy said monster, and bring out Gamma plus PSY-Frame Driver from my deck. But they would be banished at the end of the turn. I'd have removed the Judgment Dragon, but nothing else.

Furthermore, why on Earth _would_ he activate Judgment Dragon's effect if I had no monster on the field? Without battle traps, he'd have no reason to pay the life points to wipe my board. I could special summon something from my banished zone using Metaphys Dimension if he special summoned Judgment Dragon, but then my field wouldn't be without monsters.

I shook my head. I was making this needlessly complicated. There was an old saying I learned: you either make your game simple, or your opponent's game complicated, and despite having no cards on his field Erik had somehow managed to complicate my game. So I had to simplify. If he didn't summon Judgment Dragon next turn, I could afford to wait before committing resources. If he did get out Judgment Dragon, it was still unlikely he could finish me that turn, and I could get out an obstacle to buy time with Metaphys Dimension.

"I end my turn."

Erik looked at me in disbelief. "You took four minutes… to do nothing but pass."

"I told you, patience is a virtue. Now take your turn."

 **Turn 7 - Erik**

 **Erik - 3600 LP, 2 Cards in Hand**

 **Japhlet - 5700 LP, 2 Cards in Hand**

"Finally! I draw." When he looked at the card, a massive grin broke out onto his face. "I activate Monster Reincarnation! I discard Ehren, Lightsworn Monk to add from the graveyard to my hand… Judgment Dragon!

"And since I have four Lightsworns with different names in my graveyard…"

 **Ryko, Lightsworn Hunter**

 **Wulf, Lightsworn Beast**

 **Celestia, Lightsworn Angel**

 **Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid**

"…I can special summon Judgment Dragon!"

Thunder cracked and lightning struck. Digital winds blew, and I braced myself against them. Through the storm, a pillar of light broke through the clouds, and down descended a white feathered dragon with red claw.

 **Judgment Dragon (3000 ATK/2600 DEF)**

"The effect of Metaphys Dimension triggers! Because you special summoned a monster, I'm allowed to special summon a banished monster. So come back, Metaphys Armed Dragon!"

 **Metaphys Armed Dragon (2800 ATK/1000 DEF)**

"Well, guess what, Japh. He's going right back, because I activate Judgment Dragon's special ability! By paying 1000 life points, I can destroy all other cards on the field! Say goodbye to your monster and all your support cards."

 **Erik LP 3600 - 2600**

The Judgment Dragon reared its head back, before letting out a might roar, shattering my Metaphys Armed Dragon, the purple glow that had engulfed the field, and everything in between.

"And now I normal summon Jain, the Lightsworn Paladin!"

 **Jain, Lightsworn Paladin (1800 ATK/1200 DEF)**

"I enter the battle phase! Judgment Dragon attacks you directly!"

From the beast's mouth came a beam of shining light that tore through me - holographically, of course.

 **Japhlet LP 5700 - 2700**

"And now Jain, Lightsworn Paladin attacks you directly!"

 **Japhlet LP 2700 - 900**

"I end my turn, and with it Judgment Dragon and Jain send a total of six cards from my deck to the graveyard." He smiled as he checked the milled cards. "And as it turns out, one of the cards I sent was Wulf, Lightsworn Beast. When Wulf, Lightsworn Beast is sent to the grave by card effect, he special summons himself!"

 **Wulf, Lightsworn Beast (2100 ATK/300 DEF)**

"Let's see you beat that."

I grimaced. I hated being reduced to topdecking. It was so undignified. By all rights, Erik had me beat. There were only a couple outs I had to this situation.

 **Turn 8 - Japhlet**

 **Erik - 2600 LP, 0 Cards in Hand**

 **Japhlet - 900 LP, 2 Cards in Hand**

"I draw!" And as the card entered my hand, an idea entered my head. An idea I wished had entered my head sooner. I could have chained PSY-Framegear Gamma to Judgment Dragon's mill effect, negating the mill and destroying Judgment Dragon. Then it would have been smooth coasting to victory. I scowled. Sloppy plays like that could get me killed here - literally, given what I knew was looming on the horizon.

"Admitted defeat?"

"No, not quite. I misplayed last turn; could have destroyed your Judgment Dragon with this," I explained, showing him PSY-Framegear Gamma. "But the timing is long since past."

"If you want, you can still play it. I'll let you."

I shook my head. "Thanks, but one should learn how to play after a misplay. And besides, not everyone will be so kind."

He shrugged. "Well, I hope for your sake you drew something good."

I finally looked at the card. I smiled. "Well, thanks for the good vibes, because I just did."

Erik raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Well, let me show you! First, I activate Asymmetaphys. Next, I special summon Metaphys Executor by banishing five Metaphys cards with different names from the field or graveyard. Although my field is empty, my graveyard _just so happens_ to be filled with Metaphys cards." I grinned. Pointing upward, I cried out.

" _Though many things stay the same, a few shining points change!_

 _Witness the wholly other power of a new world!_

 _Enter this reality! Metaphys Executor!_ _"_

 **Metaphys Executor (3000 ATK/2500 DEF)**

"3000 ATK!? That's the same as Judgment Dragon!"

"Not for much longer. Remember, when a Metaphys card is banished on my turn, while Asymmetaphys is active all non-Metaphys monsters lose 500 ATK and DEF."

 **Judgment Dragon (3000 ATK/2600 DEF - 2500 ATK/2100 DEF)**

 **Jain, Lightsworn Paladin (1800 ATK/1200 DEF - 1300 ATK/1200 DEF)**

 **Wulf, Lightsworn Beast (2100 ATK/300 DEF - 1600 ATK/0 DEF)**

"But that means-"

"It means that Executor can now beat over your Judgment Dragon! Furthermore, since you control more cards than I do, Executor allows me to special summon a banished Metaphys monster. So why don't I call back that banished Metaphys Tyrant Dragon?"

 **Metaphys Tyrant Dragon (2900 ATK/2500 DEF)**

"All in! I enter the battle phase! Metaphys Executor declares an attack on Judgment Dragon!"

From the maw of Metaphys Executor came a purple orb that slammed into Judgment Dragon and sucked it away.

 **Erik LP 2600 - 2100**

"And now Metaphys Tyrant Dragon attacks Wulf, Lightsworn Beast"

 **Erik LP 2600 - 1300**

"I'm still ahead in life points!"

"That's all you're ahead in. Even if I couldn't finish you this turn, you'd be in no position for a comeback. But as it turns out, you won't get another turn. When Metaphys Tyrant Dragon is summoned by a Metaphys monster, it gains some extra effects. One of those effects is that it's allowed to attack again if it atacked a monster this turn. And since it just finished attacking Wulf, now it attacks Jain, Lightsworn Paladin!"

 **Erik LP 1300 - 0**

For a moment, the two of us stood still as the holograms faded. Then we both broke out into smiles.

For a guy who just lost, Erik was having a blast. "Man, that was so cool! No wonder everyone was talking about your deck. It's sick! All those banishing effects, and they look so otherworldly…." He trailed off, looking up as if the holograms were still there.

"Hey, I haven't played a Lightsworn deck in ages. It was good facing off against one again. You've got some good plays in there. You had every right to win that match."

"Don't be ridiculous. If you hadn't missed that play with Gamma, you'd have sealed the game for sure. And remember, you still won."

I shook my head. "Off a topdeck. I never like winning off a topdeck."

"Topdeck?"

"I drew the exact card I needed off the top of my deck, despite all the other things I that were in my deck that would not have won me the game. Hence, topdeck."

"Isn't that just believing in your cards? You know, when you believe in your cards, they'll answer."

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but they're just cardboard."

"People say that, but you can tell a duelist is skilled because they can consistently draw what they need to win. That shows they have a powerful bond with their deck."

I opened my mouth to retort, but the sound of footsteps silenced me. Under the threat of being docked by a hall monitor, we quickly (and quietly) put away our dueling materials, turned the lights out, and climbed into bed.

* * *

"Just cardboard, he says." I opened my eyes and found Apple Magician Girl hovering over me in the dead of night. "Hmph! Was it just cardboard that brought you here?"

"Sure," I whispered, wanting to not wake up Erik. "Magical cardboard, maybe, but still cardboard."

She huffed again and crossed her arms, but let the matter drop. "It's time I told you more about the threat you will be facing." That got me sitting up straight.

"Frankly, not a lot is known. But what is known is that something or someone it hunting Jaden Yuki. It, or perhaps they, seek to disrupt the balance of this world.

"Anything else you know about this threat other than it's out for Jaden?"

"We know of this enemy because of magical interference patterns which appear to originate from outside the universe. It's… hard to describe because magic doesn't operate in the three spacial dimensions, but we can extrapolate backwards from detected magic waves, and the predicted origin of these interferences make no sense unless they originate from outside this dimension."

"So, are we talking like Zexal or Arc-V-alternate dimension, my dimension-alternate dimension?"

Apple sighed. "No, nothing is known about this other dimension. It is not your dimension, if it helps."

I pursed my lips. "Not really, but I guess I don't have to worry about running into our bad guy in my world. Actually, speaking of, why are you aware of my reality?"

"We are not totally blind to other universes. Yours we are quite familiar with, although we do not interfere often. Each world has a path it is meant to take, and we need you to preserve this world's path."

I cocked my head. "So, my job is to keep the status quo? Why can't I make the world a better place? Don't tell me all that nasty stuff - the whole duel zombie shenanigans, getting trapped in another dimension, the whole world falling into despair - that all has to happen?"

"Please, you must understand. The balance of this world - of all worlds - is delicate. We have already tasked you with preserving the balance. Please do not betray our trust in you."

"Now, let me get this straight. I have several - not one, but several - horrifically overpowered decks in this time period, a near encyclopedic knowledge of the future _plus_ the ability to double check in the event I don't remember, and a huge collection of awful one-liners. And I'm not allowed to save the world."

"That is correct. Jaden Yuki must be the one to fulfill all the prophesies you are aware of."

"It's syndicated television, sweetheart, not a prophesy." I scowled. "Still, surely there's some space for me to change the world for the better. Am I really just a glorified babysitter?"

She sighed. "Do as you must. Just remember that your actions will have consequences that you may not forsee."

I frowned as I shrugged, and was the end of it. Apple vanished from view, and I allowed myself to drift into sleep.

* * *

One of the nice things about the island, I decided, was that there was a twenty-four-hour deli.

The first days of classes had been uneventful. Syllabuses were handed out, textbooks were distributed, professors were introduced. I had settled into a rhythm of classes, food, homework… and late-night deli runs.

On one of these deli runs, on my way back to my room with food, I saw Jaden run past me, towards the Obelisk Blue ladies' dorms. Tonight must have been the night Syrus was baited into an ill-advised trip.

I hesitated for a moment. I knew Jaden would have the whole matter under wraps. But he was my charge, and I was his cosmic babysitter, so I ran after him.

"Hey!" I called out to him. He turned back but barely slowed. "Where's the party?"

"No time to explain. I have to save my friend!"

"Well, let me come with you," I said, trying to keep pace. "Two heads are better than one, after all."

He shook his head. "I got a message telling me to come alone."

"Well, tell them I wouldn't take no for an answer. Besides, we're both first years. We should be sticking together."

After a moment, he shrugged. "Alright. Let's go."


	4. Finding Trouble

_I would like to thank Yay899, CelestiasDisciple, and Geminise for their prereading of this chapter._

* * *

"You're Japhlet, right?" Jaden asked as he rowed us along.

"Yeah, that's me. Jaden?"

"The one and only," he said, smiling. "And the buddy I'm rescuing is Syrus. He's my roommate."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. He didn't come home tonight, and then I get this weird message saying I need to meet someone at the girls' dorm."

Of course, I knew all this. Still, it was nice small talk, and I did need to build a rapport with Jaden if I wanted to be by his side in the coming years.

"Hey, Jaden. When we get there, don't get off the boat so quickly."

"Huh? But I have to get out there and save Syrus."

"I know, but the second you step on dry land you'll be breaking a school policy of no trespassing. As long as you stay on the boat, we have plausible deniability."

Jaden frowned at me. "I guess, but if I need to break a couple rules to save Syrus, I'll do it. You won't turn me in, right?"

"Look, all I'm saying is that something is weird here. Who would want to kidnap Syrus? He seems like an agreeable fellow. A bit wussy, maybe, but no one has any beef with him, least of all an Obelisk Blue girl. Whoever orchestrated this isn't going to just hand Syrus over."

As Jaden went back to rowing, I scanned the water. I knew Crowler was around, and I was hoping to catch him before the night was through. However, I saw nothing before we reached the shore. Sure enough, the threesome of ladies plus Syrus were there.

Just before Jaden stepped onto the shore, I grabbed his arm. He looked back at me, and his eyes went up in recall and nodded even though I said nothing.

"Hi Jaden. And… you." What was I, chopped liver? We had classes together, Syrus! Nevertheless, I allowed myself to fade into the background.

"Didn't we tell you to come alone, Jaden?" Alexis had her hands on her hips, unamused.

"I go where the night takes me," I said as a non-explanation.

Alexis looked at Jaden, and Jaden simply shrugged. "So what exactly is going on here, Sy?"

"Well, to make a long story short, I'm basically a big loser."

"Your friend here trespassed onto the girls' campus," Jasmine helpfully explained.

"Is that true, Sy?" Jaden didn't seem convinced.

"Hey, it's not like that!" As usual, however, Syrus' protests went ignored.

"And now that you're here, you're trespassing too, Jaden," Mindy accused. "And you too, I guess, whatever your name is." I scowled. Was I really that unknown at this school? One day everyone is buzzing about your mysterious deck, the next you're forgotten in favor of the next bit of gossip.

Jaden shook his head. "Hey, I haven't stepped foot on land yet. I'm still in international waters here. Anything goes."

"I don't think 'international' is the right word," I interjected, "but the kid is right. We haven't trespassed just yet."

"You're in the dock!" Alexis looked incredibly annoyed at our pedantics. I didn't blame her. "That's close enough. You're still trespassing."

"Fine, so we're guilty. So what?"

"So, if you don't want us to turn you all in, Jaden is going to have to beat me in a duel right now."

Syrus' eyes went wide at the demand. "But if you turn us in, we'll get expelled!"

Jaden put his fist in his palm. "Don't worry, Sy. I won't let that happen."

"Hey! My enrollment is on the line too, here!" I wasn't worried per se, but it was not fun being ignored like this.

"Oh, and you too, Japh. I'll get us all out of here in one piece."

I rolled my eyes, but still smiled. Jaden's enthusiasm really was contagious.

* * *

The duel itself was the same as I remembered from the television show. It was different, of course, being there live (I must confess, Alexis and her friends were… easy on the eyes in person), but the same moves were played.

So instead, I elected to scan the lake for any signs of Dr. Crowler and make small talk with Syrus. "So, how'd you get tangled up in this?"

He sighed. "I got this letter in my locker today," he said as he fished it out of his pockets and handed it to me. "I thought it was from Alexis, and it invited me to come the girls' dorm tonight, so I did."

"You have classes with her, Syrus. Did you not think to confirm this with her?"

Another sigh. "No… I didn't."

I didn't blame him. Poor kid was probably high on love when he got the letter.

"You mind if I keep this? I have a hunch I need to verify."

He shrugged. "I guess. No use to me now, now that I know it's a fake." I put the letter in my pocket and continued looking about the lake.

Right as Jaden summoned Thunder Giant, I spotted Crowler. As the wave of water (caused by the… hologram?) washed over him, I sprung into action.

"Jaden! Look over there," I cried, grabbing his arm and pointing towards Crowler. "I think someone's drowning!"

"What?" Without hesitation, he sat back down and began furiously rowing in that direction.

"Hey! You're not getting away like that!" The three girls followed after us, Alexis rowing.

I leaned over the edge, preparing to grab the "drowning" Crowler. "Syrus, grab me."

"Okay…." Even though Syrus sounded unconvinced, he still wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Hang on! We're coming!" At my shout, Crowler took full notice of us… and then began flailing about in earnest. It did not make him easy to grab onto. Still, after a few wild moments, I managed to grab a hold of him, and with both Syrus and Jaden pulling on me, the three of us pulled the not-so-good doctor into the boat - and on top of us, much to our displeasure.

"Oh… glad you're alright… Dr. Crowler?" I did my best to feign surprise at his identity. If the others didn't buy it, they said nothing for now.

"Oh, who, me? I'm not Dr. Crowler. I'm… uh, Dr. Bowler! Yes, I'm Dr. Bowler, that's it." I couldn't help but blink in awe. Surely he wasn't _that_ flustered at this series of events?

"Dr. Crowler?" Alexis asked, the Obelisk ladies pulling up next to us. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, me? I'm just… going for late-night swim, yes, that's all."

Alexis was not convinced. "In this cold lake?"

"Yes!"

Nor was Syrus. "In that wetsuit?"

"Of course!"

Nor was I. "Right next to the girls' dorm?"

"Naturally! Wait, no!"

At least he caught the implications of _that_.

For a pregnant moment, no one said anything, just us looking at Crowler and Crowler's eyes bouncing between all of us. Then Mindy broke the silence. "Hey! Some of the other girls spotted someone in a black wetsuit creeping around the campus grounds." Her eyes narrowed. "It wasn't _you_ , was it, Dr. Crowler?"

"What! No! I would never do such a thing! Besides, you're all far too young for me!"

"Do you peep on people that _are_ your age?" was on the tip of my tongue, but I said nothing. I figured the poor soul was just flustered. Instead, I pressed Crowler more. "So, you were, coincidentally, swimming in a black wetsuit right off the coast of the Obelisk Blue girls' dorm on the _same night_ someone _else_ wearing a black wetsuit was spotted trespassing?"

I had to hand it to him, Crowler was unshakable. "That was not me! I've been framed!"

"So you have no problem with us reporting this breach of security to Chancellor Shepard?"

That changed his tune in a flash. "Ahh, well, you know, I think the chancellor doesn't need to be bothered with such a minor thing, really."

Alexis scowled. "Minor thing? _Two people_ have been caught trespassing in our dorm in one night! Doesn't our safety mean anything?"

"I thought I was invited…." Syrus mumbled, but he went ignored. Poor kid.

"Of course it's important! In fact, it's so important that I'll bring this to the chancellor myself. There's no need to concern yourselves with this."

"So… we shouldn't say anything?" I pressed for a verbal assurance, and I got it.

"Yes, don't say anything. I'll handle all of this."

I grinned. Now I just needed one last move for checkmate. "Oh, while you're here, Doctor… did we have any homework for Rulings 1050?"

Crowler seemed relieved at the change of topic. "Yes, read pages fifty to sixty-two of the textbook and I want a two-page paper, single-spaced, for Wednesday."

"I'm going to forget that, so…" I pulled out a pen and my paper bag from the deli. "Could you write that down for me?"

A confused look crossed the professor's face, but he shrugged and obliged me. "There. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be going." He climbed out of the boat, and for a long while we watched him swim away.

Once I was sure he was out of earshot, I pulled the fake love letter out. "Syrus, could you compare these two things for me?"

"Huh? But Dr. Crowler just wrote that. Why do you want to compare that with my-" His eyes went wide. "The handwriting is the same!"

"What? Let me see that!" Jaden practically tore the letter and paper bag out of Syrus' hands. "He's right. They're the same handwriting."

Of course, Alexis, Mindy, and Jasmine were not convinced by our words alone, but once they compared the words themselves, they had to agree. "But why?" Alexis asked. "Why would Crowler write a fake love note from 'me' to Syrus?"

"Maybe Syrus could give us insight. Where did you find the letter?"

"I found it in my locker, on top of Jaden's shoes."

"Oh, by the way, thanks for letting me borrow your locker, Syrus."

Syrus rolled his eyes, but Alexis closed hers in thought. "So maybe Crowler was trying to bait Jaden, not Syrus."

"Crowler did not look happy when Jaden beat him at the entrance exams," I offered.

"Or today in class when he reminded him," Jasmine added.

Even Jaden could put the pieces together now. "So Crowler tried to trick me into trespassing on the girls' dorm so I would be expelled?" Jaden scowled. "Man, I knew he didn't like me, but I can't believe he would try to do that."

He shrugged, all anger suddenly gone. "Oh well; I guess that means we can just duel for fun now, right Alexis?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, just like Crowler said. We don't need to tell anyone about tonight. So we can just finish this duel for fun. And this has been a sweet duel. I wouldn't want to let it go unfinished."

She smiled. "Alright, Jaden. But just because the stakes are lighter, doesn't mean I'll go easy on you now."

"You won't have to. After all, I'm about to win."

"I'm sorry?"

"You see, Thunder Giant has a special ability…." As the duel finished up, I couldn't help but notice Jasmine was looking at me funny. And not in that "he's cute but I'm too shy to tell him" funny way. It wasn't quite a stink-eye, but she clearly was not happy about how tonight had turned out, and she was blaming me for it. I met her glare and simply shrugged.

"Well, see you tomorrow in class, Alexis."

"Alright, Jaden. See you tomorrow."

Jaden sat down, and slowly rowed us home. "Hey, Japh? Thanks for coming. If you hadn't, we probably wouldn't have caught Dr. Crowler."

I shook my head. "Don't think anything of it. Even if I hadn't come, you still would won the duel and earned Alexis' silence."

"Maybe, but we wouldn't have found Crowler's part in it. Man, to think he tried to do that, just for beating him in a duel."

"Maybe he wouldn't be so upset with you if you actually went to class," Syrus piped in.

Jaden rolled his eyes as Syrus and I shared a chuckle, and we made meaningless chit-chat all the way home.

* * *

Something Erik and I quickly bonded over was our shared propensity for awful sleep schedules. Even though it was well past two, he was still up, currently puzzling over his computer.

"What, did you lose your way home from the deli?" he greeted as I came in.

"No, I just… went where the night took me."

"And where, exactly, did the night take you?"

"I had a hot date with three Obelisk Blue chicks."

Erik did not believe me.

"Anyway, what are you up to?"

"I'm just looking up this rumor I heard. Apparently some students went missing a few years ago, and it has something to do with that abandoned dorm on the island."

He moved to the side and beckoned me closer to the screen, with a list of the students that went missing and short descriptions. "You recognize any of those names?"

I leaned in and took a read out loud. "Jamie Lancaster, Obelisk Blue. Had a tragic vehicular accident, but recovered miraculously. Mana Gardner, Slifer Red. Daughter of a famous dancer. Atticus Rhodes, Obelisk Blue. Well known for- Wait, Rhodes? Like Alexis Rhodes?"

This was only the second time I had to act surprised, and I was already getting tired of it. I was always afraid I would underact and seem nonplussed, or overact and look like a fake. Plus, I was a pretty bad actor. This wasn't going to do at all. I was going to need to establish some answer for why I knew everything that was going to happen, and I needed to do it fast.

Still, that could come later. "Where'd you find this list?" I asked.

"Just searched for it. This is actually the press release the Academy gave when the incident happened."

I stood back up, feigning thought. "And the list goes on. That's a lot of kids, seeing all those names."

Erik nodded. "You think we should ask Alexis if she knows anything?"

"Sure, let's go ask Alexis about this probably deeply personal and sensitive matter she's never brought up to either of us. And that's assuming they are actually related and this is not simply a shared last name."

Erik recoiled and shrunk into his seat more than I intended. "Alright, man, sheesh. I get it."

"Look, what even is your interest in this place, anyway?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Just something I wanted to look into. Morbid curiosity, I guess. Hey, you wanna go to the abandoned dorm tomorrow?"

"No."

"Why? You don't think it's haunted or anything, do you?"

" I'm just not a fan of spooky places and tight spaces. Not my cup of tea." In hindsight, I probably should have taken this into account before agreeing to save the world - or babysit the savior of the world, more accurately.

"So, you're not going to the scary movie night on Halloween?"

"Definitely not."

"All right, but if I'm not back by two A.M. tomorrow, call campus security."

I rolled my eyes, but chuckled. The next day, I made good on my word; I took no part in the abandoned dorm adventure. Erik would later tell me about the fake Shadow Game.

It would only a few days before another big piece of news hit the campus rumor mill - the expulsion match.

* * *

 _Shoutouts to two of my favorite fanfics, which inspired me to start writing this._


	5. Tag Team Trouble

_I'd like to thank Yay899 and CelestiasDisciple for their prereading of this chapter._

* * *

"Are you sure there's nothing you can do, Chancellor Shepard?"

"I'm sorry, Japhlet, but Card Drawing 1000 is a mandatory class. I just can't approve a substitute for that class. There's simply nothing else like it in the curriculum."

I tried hard to keep a scowl off my face and an understanding look on it. Classes were easy enough; I'd never had trouble with school, and as a college student taking high school-level classes, I was used to a way higher level of academic rigor than what was expected here. Even the card game-related classes were a breeze, at least for now. Almost everything was simple memorization, and anyone who played the game regularly could quickly grasp the concepts.

There was only one thorn in my side - Card Drawing 1000. Each class, we would be given a preconstructed deck, almost always full of one-of cards. Then we would face the teacher or a teaching aide with a preset board, with one particular card needed to out. The exercise was identifying the card you needed, then drawing it. Of course, figuring out the card that was needed wasn't the hard part for me. I had never been a believer in the so-called Heart of the Cards. Sure, there were duels where I hoped for a particular topdeck, but I was never under the illusion that hoping for a card would bring it. And no matter how much I tried to will a particular card as my next draw, it was all luck. Unfortunately for me, identifying the right card wasn't even a third of the grade. Drawing the right card made up the lion's share, which meant I was flunking the class.

(Interestingly, Card Drawing 1000 was the only class Jaden did well in. Well, when he showed up to class, anyway.)

"Can I test out?"

"Well, it would have to be through a series of exercises, and from what I understand that's exactly what you're struggling with."

After a moment of contemplation, I went for my all-in play. "What about Deck Construction 3300? If you build the right deck, drawing the right card becomes easier. Is that close enough to fulfill the requirement?"

Shepard folded his hands together and furrowed his brow, clearly not sold on the idea. "That's a class for third-years, as I'm sure you're aware. Are you sure you're up to the task?"

"You can see my grades, Chancellor. They're impeccable except for that one class. I can handle it."

"It's going to be a bigger time commitment."

"I understand, sir."

He frowned, but nodded. "It's not an exact fit, but I'll talk with the instructor. See me again in a week or so."

With an "of course" and a bow, I exited the office. I was greeted by Bastion leaning against the wall by the door.

"How'd it go?"

I sighed. "He said he'd talk with the teacher. Which probably means it won't happen."

"Well, your grades are good. Perhaps they'll let you."

"You should have gone in with me, man. If we both asked, it would have been twice the pressure."

"Twice the pressure against us, perhaps. One first-year in a third-year class is strange, but doable. Two? Forget about it, and if we both asked, then you definitely wouldn't get in even if you asked by yourself."

I grimaced, but Bastion was right. If we had both gone in and both been turned down, I couldn't ask later because then they could claim it wouldn't be fair to Bastion. "Still, it would have been nice for some support. You could have vouched for me or something."

He laughed. "Believe me, if you're looking for recommendations, you shouldn't start with me."

"Alright, alright. So, are you going to the expulsion match next week?"

"The one for Jaden and Syrus' enrollment? Sure, I don't see why not. It'll be a good diversion from the day's classes, although it will probably be short-lived."

"Poor guys. Not enough for them to be expelled; they're going to be made an example to hang in front of the whole school."

"I agree."

We walked along in silence, until an idea came to me. Well, it had actually come to me days ago, but Bastion didn't need to know that.

"Let's help them out. Two of us, two of them. We can tag duel them every day until their match as practice."

That got his attention. He raised an eyebrow at me. "Oh? I didn't peg you as the charitable sort."

"Now that just hurts my feelings, man. What, I don't look like a good guy to you?"

Bastion rolled his eyes. "You know that's not what I meant. Anyway, why not ask Erik to help you? He is your roommate."

"Erik's a good guy and a good duelist, but he's not a deck builder, not like you and me. He plays Lightsworns, and that's it. And for what I'm planning, we're going to need something custom-made."

"Well, _now_ you have my attention. See you after class?"

"Gotcha. Catch ya."

* * *

"Come on, Sy, they even went through the trouble of making specific decks to help us train. They spent all night making those decks so we could practice."

Jaden was right; indeed we had. Okay, it was more like we spent from late afternoon until dinner, but we had still put a lot of time into those decks. Bastion had given Jaden the good news earlier today, and now the four of us had gathered outside the Slifer Red dorms, with Chumley and Erik watching.

Syrus had only just heard of our plans, and he was not convinced. "I don't know, Jay. If we don't practice together, we won't see how badly we'll do!"

"Uh, Sy, the whole point of this is to see how we'll do."

Bastion nodded. "Jaden's right. It's better to know now, so that you can have a chance to improve before your expulsion match."

Syrus put his hands up defensively. "No, no, I think it's better we go in with no information, so that we can have the most hope."

"Hey guys, what's up?" We turned to see Alexis approaching. I was a little surprised she showed up; neither Bastion nor Erik knew her personally yet, I had only interacted with her that fateful night, and even if she was already familiar with Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley, no one had told Alexis of our plans.

Chumley explained. "Bastion and Japhlet are going to duel Jaden and Syrus to help them prepare for their match next week. Or at least, they're supposed to…."

Erik leaned back against the air, resting his head in his hands. "Syrus is too chicken to duel. Wouldn't be surprised if he chickens out of the expulsion match, honestly."

Alexis sighed. "Come on, Syrus. You need to get this practice in before the tag team match."

"Alright, I guess."

"Then it's settled. We start with eight thousand shared life points, no attacking until we've all taken a turn, no sharing strategies or the cards in your hand with your partner, but anything on the field is fair game." Bastion raised his duel disk and put his deck in, and the rest of us followed suit.

"Let's duel!"

 **Duel Start - Japhlet/Bastion versus Syrus/Jaden**

 **Turn 1 - Japhlet**

 **Japhlet/Bastion - 8000 LP, Japhlet 5 Cards in hand, Bastion 5 Cards in hand**

 **Syrus/Jaden - 8000 LP, Syrus 5 Cards in hand, Jaden 5 Cards in hand**

"I'm going first! First I normal summon-"

"Hang on, Japh," Jaden interrupted. "Aren't you going to draw?"

I blinked. "Right, draw on the first turn. Ahem. I draw. Now, I normal summon Minefieldriller!"

 **Minefieldriller (1500 ATK/1500 DEF)**

"I'll set two cards face-down and end my turn."

 **Turn 2 - Syrus**

 **Japhlet/Bastion - 8000 LP, Japhlet 3 Cards in hand, Bastion 5 Cards in hand**

 **Syrus/Jaden - 8000 LP, Syrus 5 Cards in hand, Jaden 5 Cards in hand**

"It's my turn. I draw, and summon Gyroid in attack mode."

 **Gyroid (1000 ATK/1000 DEF)**

"And, uh, I guess that's it."

 **Turn 3 - Bastion**

 **Japhlet/Bastion - 8000 LP, Japhlet 3 Cards in hand, Bastion 5 Cards in hand**

 **Syrus/Jaden - 8000 LP, Syrus 5 Cards in hand, Jaden 5 Cards in hand**

"I draw!" Bastion looked at his draw, and smiled.

"Uh oh, Jay. Bastion's smiling."

"And for good reason! I normal summon Ooguchi."

 **Ooguchi (300/250)**

Syrus blinked a few times. "…Is this what you were smiling about? That looks like such a weak card."

Chumley shared his confusion. "I don't get it. I know Bastion has to have way stronger monsters than that."

"I know Bastion," Erik said, crossing his arms. "Bastion always has a plan, even if you can't see it yet. And given that he and Japh were working together on those decks, they're cooking something up for sure."

Bastion and I shared a knowing look, but said nothing. "Next, I activate Aquarium Stage. There's a lot of text on the card, but the important part is that Water monsters I control cannot be destroyed in battle except by another Water monster. I set two cards face-down and end my turn."

 **Turn 4 - Jaden**

 **Japhlet/Bastion - 8000 LP, Japhlet 3 Cards in hand, Bastion 2 Cards in hand**

 **Syrus/Jaden - 8000 LP, Syrus 5 Cards in hand, Jaden 5 Cards in hand**

"Finally, it's my turn. I draw! And since your Water monsters need to be destroyed by another Water monster, I'll send out the right hero for the job! Come on out, Elemental HERO Bubbleman!"

 **Elemental HERO Bubbleman (800 ATK/1200 DEF)**

"And since Bubbleman is the only card I have out on the field, I get to draw two cards. And that comes in handy when you're looking for this - Bubble Blaster! I'll equip it to Bubbleman to double his attack points!"

 **Elemental HERO Bubbleman (800 ATK/1200 DEF - 1600 ATK/1200 DEF)**

"I'll throw down two face-downs, and call it a turn."

 **Turn 5 - Japhlet**

 **Japhlet/Bastion - 8000 LP, Japhlet 3 Cards in hand, Bastion 2 Cards in hand**

 **Syrus/Jaden - 8000 LP, Syrus 5 Cards in hand, Jaden 4 Cards in hand**

"All right, this is where the fun begins! I draw! I normal summon Cannon Soldier!"

 **Cannon Soldier (1400 ATK/1300 DEF)**

"I enter the battle phase! Minefieldriller declares an attack on Gyroid! And in response to my own attack, I activate my trap card - Metaverse! Metaverse allows me to select a field spell and activate it from my deck. So I'll activate the field spell Temple of the Mind's Eye!"

"Temple of the Mind's Eye?"

"That's right. Now all battle damage we take becomes one thousand, regardless of attack point difference. So even though the difference between Minefieldriller's and Gyroid's attack points is only 500…"

 **Minefieldriller (1500 ATK/1500 DEF)**

 **Gyroid (1000 ATK/1000 DEF)**

"…You're still going to take a thousand points of damage!"

 **Syrus/Jaden LP 8000 - 7000**

"But once per turn, Gyroid can survive being destroyed by battle, so my monster is safe."

"Good thing I have a second monster to attack with, then. Cannon Soldier declares an attack on Gyroid! And just like before, you take a thousand points of damage, even though the difference between their attack points is only four hundred."

 **Syrus/Jaden LP 7000 - 6000**

"I enter the second main phase, and activate Cannon Soldier's effect. I tribute Minefieldriller to deal you another five hundred damage."

 **Syrus/Jaden LP 6000 - 5500**

"I end my turn."

 **Turn 6 - Syrus**

 **Japhlet/Bastion - 8000 LP, Japhlet 3 Cards in hand, Bastion 2 Cards in hand**

 **Syrus/Jaden - 5500 LP, Syrus 5 Cards in hand, Jaden 4 Cards in hand**

"Man, Japhlet and Bastion aren't playing around. Jaden and Syrus have already lost over a quarter of their life points." Alexis crossed her arms and frowned.

"It's my turn! I draw. Since I need a Water monster to destroy your Water monsters, I'll summon Submarineroid!"

 **Submarineroid (800 ATK/1800 DEF)**

"Submarineroid, attack that Ooguchi!"

"Now see here!" I interrupted. "The trap card, Gravity Bind! While Gravity Bind is active, all monsters that are Level 4 and above cannot attack. This negates the attack of your Submarineroid."

"Ohh… Guess I'll just set a card and end my turn."

 **Turn 7 - Bastion**

 **Japhlet/Bastion - 8000 LP, Japhlet 3 Cards in hand, Bastion 2 Cards in hand**

 **Syrus/Jaden - 5500 LP, Syrus 4 Cards in hand, Jaden 4 Cards in hand**

"Now to take advantage of what my partner did for me! I draw! I activate Reinforcement of the Army, which allows me to add a Warrior from my deck to my hand. So I'll add Spell Striker."

 **Spell Striker (600 ATK/200 DEF)**

"And now I'll special summon Spell Striker by banishing the Reinforcement of the Army in my grave. Furthermore, I'll normal summon Drill Barnacle!"

 **Drill Barnacle (300 ATK/0 DEF)**

Jaden tilted his head. "Well, that's all cool, but all those monsters are super weak. You can't beat any of our monsters with those."

Bastion just gave a smug smile.

"Uh, he's smiling again, Jay…."

Chumley scratched his head. "But why? Jaden is right; none of those monsters can beat any of Jaden's or Syrus' monsters."

Erik looked at Alexis, and Alexis just shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't need to beat those monsters," he guessed.

"But that could only make sense if all those monsters can-" Alexis gasped, and I joined Bastion in smiling.

"Go!" Bastion commanded. "Ooguchi attacks Syrus directly! And don't forget, with Temple of the Mind's Eye active, all battle damage becomes one thousand!"

 **Syrus/Jaden LP 5500 - 4500**

"You too, Spell Striker!"

 **Syrus/Jaden LP 4500 - 3500**

"I don't want Jaden to feel left out. Drill Barnacle, attack Jaden directly!"

 **Syrus/Jaden LP 3500 - 2500**

"Furthermore, because Drill Barnacle dealt battle damage through a direct attack, it gains one thousand attack points!"

 **Drill Barnacle (300 ATK/0 DEF - 1300 ATK/0 DEF)**

For a moment, Bastion did nothing but take the gamestate in, clearly doing some mental math. "I'll end my turn with one face-down. Your move, Jaden."

 **Turn 8 - Jaden**

 **Japhlet/Bastion - 8000 LP, Japhlet 3 Cards in hand, Bastion 2 Cards in hand**

 **Syrus/Jaden - 2500 LP, Syrus 4 Cards in hand, Jaden 4 Cards in hand**

"And what a turn it's going to have to be to turn this around. Well, here goes… something! First, I summon Elemental HERO Avian, in attack mode!"

 **Elemental HERO Avian (1000 ATK/1000 DEF)**

"Next, I activate my face-down, HERO's Bond! Because I have a HERO out, I'm allowed to summon two more Elemental HEROes from my hand. So come on out and join the party, Elemental HERO Clayman and Sparkman!"

 **Elemental HERO Clayman (800 ATK/2000 DEF)**

 **Elemental HERO Sparkman (1600 ATK/1400 DEF)**

"That's nice, Jaden," Bastion replied, "But both Clayman and Sparkman are Level 4. And in case you forgot, so is Bubbleman. They can't attack while Gravity Bind is out."

"Who said anything about Clayman and Sparkman attacking?"

"Eh?"

"I activate Feather Shot! Now Avian is allowed to attack once for each monster we control, but my other monsters aren't allowed to attack."

Erik's eyes went up. "But his other monsters couldn't attack anyway because of Gravity Bind, so Jaden just got to attack five times instead of once!"

 **Monsters Controlled: Avian, Clayman, Sparkman, Bubbleman, Submarineroid**

"So Avian, go ahead and attack that Spell Striker. And remember, with Temple of the Mind's Eye out, you take a thousand damage for each attack!"

"Not so fast!" Bastion interjected. "I activate Dimension Guardian, which prevents my Spell Striker from being destroyed. And with Aquarium Stage out, my Ooguchi can't be destroyed in battle either."

"Maybe, but you'll still take damage from five attacks, which means you take five thousand damage!"

 **Japhlet/Bastion LP 8000 - 3000**

Bastion and I weathered the storm of feathers, but Jaden had managed to nearly even up the life points in one turn. I knew the kid had some impressive topdecking skills, but I hadn't expected that much damage in one turn. Knowing his luck, he'd draw another Feather Shot in his next turn, so I had to win now.

 **Turn 9 - Japhlet**

 **Japhlet/Bastion - 3000 LP, Japhlet 3 Cards in hand, Bastion 2 Cards in hand**

 **Syrus/Jaden - 2500 LP, Syrus 4 Cards in hand, Jaden 1 Card in hand**

"I draw! And now, you lose."

"Eh? What do you mean? We still have twenty-five hundred life points."

"Not for long! All in! I normal summon An Owl of Luck!"

 **An Owl of Luck (300 ATK/500 DEF)**

"Next, I activate Cannon Soldier, tributing my owl to deal five hundred damage to you!"

 **Syrus/Jaden LP 2500 - 2000**

"Then I tribute Bastion's Ooguchi!"

 **Syrus/Jaden LP 2000 - 1500**

"And Spell Striker!"

 **Syrus/Jaden LP 1500 - 1000**

"And Drill Barnacle!"

 **Syrus/Jaden LP 1000 - 500**

Chumley breathed a sigh of relief. "He's out of monsters to tribute, and since Cannon Soldier is Level 4, it can't attack with Gravity Bind out."

Alexis frowned. "So… why isn't he ending his turn?"

I smiled. Bastion smiled.

Syrus frowned. "Uh, Jaden? Why are they smiling?"

"Cannon Soldier allows me to tribute a monster to deal five hundred damage to you. It doesn't say _another_ monster. It says _a_ monster. Which means-"

"Which means he can tribute Cannon Soldier too!" Jaden gasped.

"Bingo. I activate Cannon Soldier's ability! I tribute Cannon Soldier to deal five hundred damage to you!"

 **Syrus/Jaden LP 500 - 0**

I walked over to Bastion and bumped his fist in victory. "Good show, Jaden," he said, "But not good enough."

Syrus sighed. "I knew it. There's no way we'll win the tag match with me as your partner."

Jaden did his best to console Syrus. "Aw, come on Sy. It was close."

"Only because of you. I'll only hold you back. And if you were to get expelled because of me… I won't allow it!" And with that, he ran into his room and slammed the door.

The rest of us looked among each other with unease. Although Syrus was right to believe he was garbage because he was… well, garbage at dueling, it wouldn't do for him to feel so down. Jaden chased after him, and that would patch things over for now, but it wasn't going to last. And as much as I knew luck would be on Jaden and Syrus' side on the big day, the poor kid needed some character development fast.


	6. Syrus, For His Sake

_I'd like to thank Yay899, CelestiasDisciple, and Duster Dawnhorse for their prereading of this chapter._

* * *

I wasn't normally one for intruding on private conversations. I would have much rather gone straight back to my room after my late-night deli run. But given I knew what was going down tonight, and I had every intention of intervening, I couldn't help but overhear a bit of Zane and Alexis' conversation. Granted, I already knew about the conversation from the TV show, so I wasn't particularly surprised by the events. I just felt scummy for listening in on what was meant to be private.

I mused a bit on my status as a dimensional traveler with near-perfect metaknowledge to distract myself. Dangerous, it was, to have delusions of grandeur about what I could manipulate. These were not cardboard cutouts or puppets dancing to their strings. They were real people. Campy, dramatic, regularly ridiculous people, yes, but people nonetheless. And yet here I was, thinking I could play a god amongst men.

Well, arrogance had always been a flaw of mine.

"Didn't I warn you about interfering with the flow of reality?"

I craned my head to see Apple floating above me, arms crossed.

"Oh, you're a mind reader now? Or maybe this just proves you're a figment of my imagination."

"Please. It wasn't hard to figure out what you were planning given you are prone on a cliff overlooking two innocent people."

"Now you're making it sound like I want to assassinate them. And Alexis is too cute to assassinate."

"She's fifteen. You're twenty-one."

"I'm fourteen here!"

"Mentally, you're twenty-one. And we both know you wanted to use a word very different from 'cute.'"

"Please don't make me sound like a pedophile. Besides, does that look like a fifteen-year-old body to you? Hell, look at you! Ain't you just a girl? You're way too developed for a girl."

The two of us settled into uneasy silence. I really didn't want to consider the physical/mental age gap different right now. Or ever, really, but I suppose I would have to confront that at some point.

Luckily for me, the two were on the move, no doubt at the sound of Syrus' failed escape, and that was my cue to start running for the scene too.

Our paths intersected, and Alexis regarded me curiously. "What are you doing here?"

"Deli run," I gave as in the way of a non-answer.

"But the deli is on the other side of the island."

"Deli run."

She shrugged, and inquired no more.

* * *

A tragedy in two acts was unfolding before me, and the actors were two brothers — which made it all the more poetic.

"About time you decided to drop out."

Syrus had, true to canon, attempted to flee the island on a hastily constructed raft, and been caught by Jaden and Chumley. Harsh words were exchanged, and Jaden had challenged Zane to a duel.

I could have left it all to play out as it had in canon. The world would have been no worse off.

And yet, I had some strange pity for Syrus. Poor kid would eventually grow into a great duelist and great... well, man was perhaps a stretch for someone graduating high school, but a great young adult. But the kid shouldn't have to wait so long to overcome his fear. I hoped what I was about to do wasn't going to traumatize Syrus, but he needed a bit of a kick to get his growth started.

I chased him down after the huddle had dispersed. "Sy! Let's talk."

He seemed unsure, but followed me as I pulled him aside.

"You're going to duel Zane tomorrow, not Jaden."

"What!?" He bolted for the group, but I pulled him back.

"Hey! Hear me out here."

"I can't duel Zane! I'd lose on the first turn."

"Well, unless he's playing Plant FTK or Exodia FTK, I'm pretty sure you'll at least live to see turn two. And that's not my point. We all know you're a bad duelist."

"Yeah, so why should I duel Zane?"

"Because the point here isn't to beat Zane. You don't even need to come close. But you do need to practice keeping your cool while facing someone much better than you."

"And how will I do that?" I knew Syrus was beyond skeptical about the practicality of my advice.

"My suggestion: Talk out loud. If he's really as good as you say, he already knows what you're thinking anyway, so thinking out loud will only help you. Take it slow. You're not at a tournament, so you can't be penalized for slow play."

He nodded along, but still seemed unconvinced.

"And this is most important of all: Keep it simple. Someone once taught me an invaluable piece of advice. When you duel, you have two goals: make your life simple and your opponent's life complicated. Now, let's be real. What does Zane's deck do?"

"Uhh... summon Cyber End Dragon with Power Bond and win in one turn?"

"Does he use a lot of traps?"

"No, not really."

"Does he use a lot of monsters with annoying effects?"

"No, but they do have lots of attack points."

"See, Zane is keeping his game simple. He doesn't worry about all the strange things his opponent does. He summons big monster and punches his opponent in the face for game. Now, is he doing a lot of different things? Yes, but the ideas he's using are simple.

"So play like that. You and I both know you're not ready to play decks designed to make your opponent's life complicated. So keep your life simple. Be mindful of the attack points of Zane's monsters, know what can beat over them, and play to bring those monsters out. Don't get flustered with mere possibilities. Focus on one goal, one way to work, and play with that in mind."

Syrus continued to nod as if he was following, but he seemed a bit out of it. Again, doubts floated to my head. Maybe I was throwing him too far into the deep end. Maybe I should have him duel me, instead.

But I was in too deep into my crazy, life-manipulating scheme to back out now. Putting my hand on his shoulder, I lifted his chin with my other hand. "Hey. You can't lose here. If you lose to Zane, well, no one will be surprised, and if you win, it'll be huge. There's only up from here."

Syrus, however unconvinced he still was, smiled.

* * *

The two were all set to duel. I looked at Syrus, still standing with us in the peanut gallery. Perhaps he had chickened out.

"Sorry, Jaden, change of plans." All eyes turned to him as he stepped forward, and for a moment he faltered. But he took a deep breath, steeled himself, and walked right next to Jaden. "I'm dueling Zane."

A collective "What?!" came from everyone but Zane and I. For a brief moment, Zane locked eyes with me before turning back to his brother.

"Syrus, you can't be serious! Just leave this to me."

"It's okay, Jaden. I have to do this. For me. Even if I fall flat on my face, and humiliate myself, and make myself feel even worse... I have to do this. For me. And for you. But mostly for me. I think."

Syrus could have worded it better, but it seemed he had gotten the point.

Zane wasn't going to let Syrus duel so easily. "You were just about to drop out yesterday, and now you want to duel the top duelist of the school? Get real."

"I..." Again Syrus hesitated. For a moment, he found the ground, the sky, anything more interesting than his brother.

"Come on. There's no way you can face me. Do you honestly think you stand a chance against me?"

"N-n-no..."

I looked at Jaden. Now, of all times, would be the time for Jaden to rally Syrus. But Jaden was strangely silent, only looking as Syrus even as Syrus looked to him for encouragement. Had Jaden been so surprised he'd been stunned into silence? Or had Jaden so looked forward to dueling Zane that he didn't want Syrus to take his place?

 _Come on, Syrus,_ I thought. _You can do this._

"W-w-well..." Syrus continued to struggle to muster his courage. I wanted to encourage him myself, but I didn't want to out myself as the one behind this. If I did, it would be for naught. This was Syrus' chance to show he could stand on his own, win or lose.

Of course, I had hoped Jaden would be a little more supportive of Syrus in his decision. Jaden's silence here was really making this harder than I anticipated.

"Fine!" All eyes turned to Zane as he huffed and loaded his duel disk. "You need a little reminder of your place? I'll be happy to give it to you."

That was surprising. I hadn't expected Zane to agree to duel Syrus now. To Syrus' credit, he didn't back down at Zane's challenge. Still slightly trembling, he stood up tall (well, taller) and readied his own duel disk.

"Duel!"

 **Duel Start - Syrus Truesdale versus Zane Truesdale**

 **Turn 1 - Syrus**

 **Syrus - 4000 LP, 5 Cards in hand**

 **Zane - 4000 LP, 5 Cards in hand**

"Since this was your idea, why don't you go first, little brother?"

"O-oh, okay. I draw!"

Meanwhile, Jaden had rejoined the peanut gallery. "Man, I have to say, I'm surprised. I didn't expect Syrus to challenge Zane, especially after everything he's said about him."

"You're not upset you're not getting to duel Zane, are you?" I chanced.

"Well, I was pretty stoked about dueling him, but I'll get another chance. Besides, if Syrus can do this, it'll be just as good for his confidence."

"But if he loses badly, it might be much, much worse," I heard Alexis mutter. I shot her a disapproving look, and she gave a skeptical look back at me.

"Fair enough," I said, with a small shrug.

Much to my chagrin, when I turned back to the duel, Syrus still hadn't made a single move. He was looking over his cards, stressing over what to do.

"C'mon, man, remember what I taught you..." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alexis look at me, curious, but when I turned to her, she looked away.

Whatever had caused Jaden to hesitate in supporting Syrus' decision to duel, it had no bearing on Jaden's support for Syrus now. "You can do it, Syrus! Show your brother you belong here." That got a smile, small as it was, out of Syrus. He took a deep breath, and finally started to play the game.

"I set one monster, one facedown, and end my turn."

 **Turn 2 - Zane**

 **Syrus - 4000 LP, 4 Cards in hand**

 **Zane - 4000 LP, 5 Cards in hand**

"You took all that time, only to set a monster and a facedown? I know pre-schoolers who can duel better than that. It's my turn! Draw!"

With only a few moments of contemplation, Zane sprung into action. "First, I'll activate Mystical Space Typhoon, to destroy your facedown." As the whirlwind struck Syrus' facedown, it flipped up to reveal it as Bottomless Trap Hole before it burst into shards.

"Next, because you control a monster and I don't, I'm allowed to summon Cyber Dragon without tributing!" True to his word, in a flash of light, Cyber Dragon sprung onto the field.

 **Cyber Dragon (2100 ATK/1600 DEF)**

"And since I still have my normal summon, I'll summon my Cyber Soldier of Dark World!"

 **Cyber Soldier of Darkworld (1400 ATK/1200 DEF)**

"Cyber Soldier of Darkworld, go attack that facedown."

The heavily-armored warrior lumbered over and raised its arms, pointing them at the face-down monster, and opening fire. As the bullets struck the card, it flipped over to reveal a Gyroid.

 **Gyroid (1000 ATK/1000 DEF)**

Weathering the storm, Syrus replied, "Once per turn, Gyroid can't be destroyed by battle! So my monster is safe."

"It's a good thing I have another monster, then. Cyber Dragon, Evolution Burst!"

A stream of white energy flowed from the gaping maw of the mechanical dragon, and Gyroid faded away in its wake.

"Next, I'll activate Different Dimension Capsule. I'll banish one card face-down, and I'll get to add it to my hand two turns later. Finally, I'll set one card, and end my turn."

 **Turn 3 - Syrus**

 **Syrus - 4000 LP, 4 Cards in hand**

 **Zane - 4000 LP, 2 Cards in hand**

Now Syrus was shaking again. "Uhh, okay. I'll draw."

Chumley, while not shaking, was clearly just as worried. "Not 'licious. Syrus is right back where he started."

Worse, really, I thought to myself. He'd spent two cards for no payoff, and he was facing off a sizeable beatstick in Cyber Dragon, and one potential disruption in that facedown. (Small blessing, I supposed, that he didn't have to worry about handtraps.)

"What's my... what did he call it? Win condition? Yeah, I need to remember my win conditions..."

"Talking to yourself again, little brother?" Despite his words, I could tell Zane was intrigued. No way Syrus would have gotten an idea like win conditions on his own, or even through what the entry-level school material would have discussed. Again, Zane looked at me, but I said nothing.

"Alright... My win condition was make Steam Gyroid as soon as possible, and destroy as much as I can. If I can't destroy something with Steam Gyroid... Well, I'll worry about that later."

Syrus looked back to his hand. "If I summon Steamroid now, I could destroy his Cyber Dragon! But, next turn, he could destroy my Steamroid with his Cyber Soldier. But I could destroy Cyber Soldier more easily than Cyber Dragon, and now I have the chance to take Cyber Dragon out!"

Zane regarded his brother with crossed arms. "Very perceptive. But I think you've forgotten something."

"Huh? Oh, right, that facedown. Oh. Oh no. Umm..."

Now this was an interesting development. I didn't expect Zane to help his brother in this duel, not even in a backhanded manner. Zane had, to my memory, always been the type to support someone by throwing them into the deep end of the pool to force them to learn how to swim. Perhaps, now dueling Syrus, he was starting to change his mind on his methodology.

"Can I do anything about that facedown? I... I don't think I can. And... what did he say? If you can't do anything about it, play like it's not there."

Syrus closed his eyes, and took a deep, bracing breath. When he opened them again, they were filled with determination. Well, more determination than normal, anyway.

"I summon my Steamroid in attack position!"

 **Steamroid (1800 ATK/1800 DEF)**

"And now, I'll attack your Cyber Dragon! Go, Steamroid! Run a train over that oversized robot snake!"

"Did you forget? Steamroid only has 1800 attack points, while Cyber Dragon has 2100. Your monster will lose."

"No, but you forgot that Steamroid gains 500 ATK whenever it attacks. So that gives it... it gives it..."

"2300 attack points!" Alexis helpfully finished. "That's more than Cyber Dragon's!"

 **Steamroid (1800 ATK/1800 DEF - 2300 ATK/1800 DEF)**

Steam puffed out of the little engine that could — could destroy Cyber Dragon, that is. It crashed right into the mechanical dragon, and the dragon let out a screech as it burst into sparkles.

Zane, implacable as ever, did nothing as his life points went down.

 **Zane LP 4000 - 3800**

"I'll throw down a facedown, and end my turn. Your move, big bro."

 **Turn 4 - Zane**

 **Syrus - 4000 LP, 3 Cards in hand**

 **Zane - 3800 LP, 2 Cards in hand**

"Finally. I draw."

Again, Zane only took a second to decide his course of action. (Frankly, I envied him. I could take minutes to decide on my next play — much to the chagrin of many an opponent who threatened to call a judge over slow play.)

"I'll summon my Proto-Cyber Dragon."

 **Proto-Cyber Dragon (1100 ATK/600 DEF)**

Alas, that was all it took for Syrus' confidence to fade again. "Uh oh. Now he can attack Steamroid for 100 damage, and then attack me directly with Proto-Cyber Dragon for 1100 damage."

I made a mental note to give Syrus a lesson on mental resilience later.

"You're right, I could do that. But I could also do something much worse."

"W-w-worse?"

"You see, Proto-Cyber Dragon is treated as regular Cyber Dragon while it's on the field. And that means I can use the Polymerization in my hand," he said, as he revealed the card, "with the Cyber Dragon in my hand."

Slamming the Polymerization into the duel disk, the signature swirl of fusion drew the Proto-Cyber Dragon, a ghostly image of the normal Cyber Dragon imposed over it, and the regular Cyber Dragon together, twisting and intertwining them together. And with a flash of light, out burst Twin Cyber Dragon.

 **Cyber Twin Dragon (2800 ATK/2100 DEF)**

"That's... that's bigger than any monster in my deck!"

"Then I hope you have a Plan B, little brother. Because not only is Cyber Twin Dragon indeed stronger than any monster in your deck, it also gets to attack twice per turn. But first things first. Cyber Soldier, destroy that pathetic toy train!"

"But Steamroid has 1800 ATK. That's more than Cyber Soldier's 1400."

"Don't tell me you forgot your own monster's effect. Steamroid loses 500 ATK when it is the one being attacked."

 **Steamroid (1800 ATK/1800 DEF - 1300 ATK/1800 DEF)**

"And that means you take 100 points of damage."

 **Syrus LP 4000 - 3900**

"Now, Cyber Twin Dragon, attack directly!" The machine raised its first head, opened its mouth, and breathed out lightning.

"Not so fast! I'll activate my trap, Call of the Haunted! I'll summon my Gyroid from my Graveyard!"

 **Gyroid (1000 ATK/1000 DEF)**

"No matter. I'll just destroy your Gyroid instead." The Cyber Twin Dragon let out another beam, slamming the cartoon helicopter and rattling Syrus and his life points.

 **Syrus LP 3900 - 2100**

"Remember Gyroid can't be destroyed by battle once per turn!"

"And you should remember Cyber Twin Dragon gets two attacks each battle phase!"

Another wave of energy came forth, this time from the dragon's second mouth. Gyroid couldn't withstand the second blast, and was destroyed.

 **Syrus LP 2100 - 300**

"I end my turn."

 **Turn 5 - Syrus**

 **Syrus - 300 LP, 3 Cards in hand**

 **Zane - 3800 LP, 0 Cards in hand**

"This is bad. Sy is just barely holding on." Chumley seemed to shrink, fingertips nervously touching.

Alexis wasn't any more confident. "And I'm not sure there's a card in the entire game that could turn this around for Syrus, let alone in his deck."

Jaden wasn't buying it. "Come on, guys, where's your confidence? You can do it, Sy! Turn this duel around. It's not over until the last card is played!"

"I'm all for encouragement, but can Syrus really do something here?"

"Let them have this, Lex." I elbowed her gently. "Even if Syrus doesn't or even can't win this duel, he needs to know Jaden has his back in the tough times."

Again, she seemed unconvinced, but didn't reply.

"Besides, Zane is out of cards. He'll draw one, get his card from D.D. Capsule, that's it. If Syrus can take out this Cyber Twin Dragon, he might have a shot."

"Whatever happens, it all hangs on this next draw."

All eyes turned to Syrus as he rested his fingers on his top card.

"I... draw!"


	7. Running a Train over Truesdale

_I would like to thank Yay899, GM-san, and Shou for their prereading of this chapter._

* * *

Alexis, Chumley, Jaden and I watched with bated breath as Syrus prepared to take his next turn.

 **Turn 5 - Syrus**

 **Syrus - 300 LP, 3 Cards in hand**

 **Zane - 3800 LP, 0 Cards in hand**

It wasn't looking very good for him, to be honest. His field was empty, while Zane had a Cyber Twin Dragon and Cyber Soldier of Darkworld on his field, ready to take out the last of Syrus' life points. Chumley was now biting his fingernails, Alexis was cringing a little, and even Jaden had a scowl on his face. Truly, the situation was dire. Even though I hadn't planned for Syrus to win and still thought dueling and losing would be a good learning experience for him, I still hoped that some of Jaden's odds-defying luck had rubbed off onto Syrus in the pre-match huddle.

"I... draw!" Syrus looked at his new card, and his eyes lit up. "This is perfect! I activate Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two more cards!"

After drawing his next two cards, Syrus actually looked confident. "Now I have all the pieces I need. First-"

Suddenly, Syrus clammed up. His mouth hung open, spluttering like a dying fish out of water, and shaking just about as much. His hands quivered, and I was worried he was going to bend his cards if he clenched his fists any harder in fear.

"What the matter, little brother? I thought you had all the pieces you needed."

"I thought so too, but... but what if I don't?"

I scowled. This was _not_ the time for Syrus to be getting cold feet. He'd gotten this far, and I was quite proud of him for that, but it would be for naught if he couldn't go all the way.

"You can do it Sy! Show your brother you belong here!"

I turned to my side. Jaden, bless his soul, was doing his best to encourage Syrus, and it did seem to have some positive effect. Syrus started to calm down a little, his breathing returning to a normal pace. But he still had yet to make a move, and Zane's silence was the equal and opposite force on Syrus to Jaden's shouting.

I looked between the two forces on Syrus, neither one making much ground. Zane hadn't intimidated Syrus into surrendering, but Jaden hadn't succeeded in getting Syrus to play. I looked over to Alexis, and she gave me a curious look of resignation.

It had to be done. "Syrus!" He looked at me (and everyone else too, I figured), and I gave him a stern look back - but one of expectation. "All in!"

Slightly shocked, Syrus steeled himself and finally went back to playing the game. "First, I activate Power Bond! I'm going to send the Gyroid and Steamroid from my hand to the graveyard, and Fusion Summon!"

"What good will that do?" Zane crossed his arms in indifference. "You're going to summon Steam Gyroid, who has 2200 base attack, and then double it to 4400. But even if you destroy my Cyber Soldier, you'll only deal 3000 damage, and I have 3800 life points. Then at the end of the turn, you'll take 2200 damage from Power Bond, which is far more life points than you have."

"I wasn't finished yet, Zane! Next I'll activate my Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your facedown, chaining it to my Power Bond!"

Zane raised an eyebrow, but betrayed nothing else. "So you made your play a little safer. Cute, but it doesn't change the math."

"Next, I activate Emergency Provisions, in chain! This lets me send my spells from my field to the graveyard, and I get an extra thousand life points for each one! So I'll send my Mystical Space Typhoon and Power Bond to the graveyard, and gain 2000 life points!"

 **Syrus LP 300 - 2300**

I couldn't stop a grin. "That'll give Syrus just enough life to survive Power Bond this turn!"

Jaden was far more animated in his excitement than I was. He leaped into the air and pumped his fist. "Alright, Sy! I knew you had it in you!"

And the chain continued to resolve backwards. MST destroyed Zane's set facedown, which was revealed to be Attack Reflector Unit.

And finally, Gyroid and Steamroid were pulled into a vortex. When they were pulled in, sparks burst out, intensifying as the two machines swirled together, until finally we had to shield our eyes from the light. When we finally were able to see again, the two had fused together to form the (contextually) unstoppable Steam Gyroid.

 **Steam Gyroid (2200 ATK/1600 DEF)**

Well, unstoppable after Power Bond.

 **Steam Gyroid (2200 ATK/1600 DEF - 4400 ATK/1600 DEF)**

"Battle!" Syrus outstretched his arm and pointed at Cyber Twin Dragon. "Go, Steam Gyroid! Attack Cyber Twin Dragon!"

It was truly a sight to behold. With a long, low whistle, the heli-train whirled its propeller and drove full-steam ahead at the twin-headed machine. The mechanical dragon's mouths lit up, and two streams of electric energy surged, slamming against the little fusion that could. Undeterred, the heli-train leapt of the ground, flew at the machine, and decapitated both heads with its propellers, which gave one last screech as the behemoth powered down, a low hum preceding the explosion.

What I found truly surprising was that Zane flinched. Well, maybe. It was kind of hard to tell in the holographic dust cloud and fire.

 **Zane LP 3800 - 2200**

For a moment, Syrus seemed to revel in the rush of actually taking down one of Zane's signature monsters. He panted, hunched over with his hands on his knees, perhaps still in disbelief that he had succeeded.

Zane, across the duel field, was almost as stoic as ever. But the smallest smile seemed to be on his face, even though his position had been broken wide open. It was a heartwarming moment, perhaps amplified by the fact I had seen this character development in a television show before. To see some good wrought, in real people - easily caricatured, exaggerated, and wholly "anime" people, yes, but people none the less - felt good.

Finally, Syrus composed himself, and stood up straight, giddiness written all over his face. Definitely a premature celebration, but he could be forgiven.

"I... I end my turn."

Ever the killjoy, Zane inclined his head forward. "Don't forget the effect of Power Bond. You take damage equal to Steam Gyroid's original attack points."

 **Syrus LP 2300 - 100**

 **Turn 6 - Zane**

 **Syrus - 100 LP, 0 Cards in hand**

 **Zane - 3800 LP, 0 Cards in hand**

"I draw. And since it's been two turns, I now get the card back from the Different Dimension Capsule."

"Yeah, but what can he do?" I turned to Alexis. "He adds Power Bond to his hand, he has one card in hand and Soldier on the field. Unless he drew his Cybernetic Fusion Sup-"

"Now I'll activate the card I got from the Different Dimension Capsule - Overload Fusion!"

Oh. That wasn't Power Bond.

"Overload Fusion allows me to use the monsters in my graveyard as the materials for my Fusion Summon, by removing them from play. So I'll banish my two Cyber Dragons and one Proto-Cyber Dragon from my graveyard, and summon..."

Night skies don't normally get darker, but as the black clouds began to coalesce around us in the sky, I figured now was an exception. Thunder rumbled and cracks of lighting briefly illuminated the heavens, and while I was _mostly_ sure they were holographic, the chillingly-real wind that blew upon us gave me doubts.

A bolt of lightning struck right behind Zane, and from the smell of burning air, the familiar vortex of fusion appeared. Out of its center came sparks, small flashes of electricity. Slowly, out emerged not one head, not two, not even three... but six.

"I summon Chimeratech Overdragon!"

 **Chimeratech Overdragon (? ATK/? DEF)**

Syrus' eyes bugged out. "I-I've never seen you play that monster before, big brother!"

"Well, a man has to have some tricks up his sleeve for tricky opponents." Despite the ominous scene, Zane was definitely smiling at his little brother now. In a competitive, older-to-younger way, but still a very genuine smile.

Also, the fact that Zane had called Syrus a "tricky opponent" did not escape me, or, by the look on Syrus' face, him.

"Chimeratech Overdragon gains 800 attack and defense points for each material used to summon it. I used three materials, so Chimeratech Overdragon has 2400 attack and defense points!"

 **Chimeratech Overdragon (2400 ATK/2400 DEF)**

"However, when I summon Chimeratech Overdragon, I need to send all other monsters I control to the graveyard. So I'll say goodbye to my Cyber Soldier of Darkworld for now."

"But wait a minute. My Steam Gyroid still has 4400 attack points. It's way bigger than your Chimeratech Overdragon."

"For now it is. But I have one more card to play, little brother. I activate Limiter Removal!"

"Limiter Removal?!" Alexis gasped. "That'll double the attack points of all Machine monsters he controls!"

I did some quick math. "So it goes from 2400 attack... to 4800! Just over Syrus' Steam Gyroid's 4400!"

 **Chimeratech Overdragon (2400 ATK/2400 DEF - 4800 ATK/2400 DEF)**

 **Steam Gyroid (4400 ATK/1600 DEF)**

"This is the end, little brother. Chimeratech Overdragon, attack his Steam Gyroid!"

One by one, the maws of the mechanical hydra opened up and glowed with power. Steam Gyroid, either in ignorance or stubbornness, whirled up its propellers in the face of the beast before it.

At last, the final head was charged up, and six beams of blazing electricity converged on the little train that could. I shielded by eyes from the brightness, a six-fold blade cutting through the darkness. Through squinted eyes I saw the little train that could, saw it bravely muscle forward, until it could no more.

 **Syrus LP 100 - 0**

In the aftermath, none of us moved. Us in the peanut gallery glanced between each other, to Zane, to Syrus. Syrus stood motionless, head hung low.

Softly breaking through the silence was the sound of crying.

Finally, Jaden ran over to Syrus, throwing his around Syrus' shoulder and crouching down so they were face-to-face. The rest of us refused to move, perhaps paralyzed by the fragility of the situation. I know I was.

Still, true to his best friend, Jaden gave Syrus a small smile. "Hey, don't sweat it man. You had some cool moves there."

"What does it matter? I lost. We're never going to win the expulsion match. You'll be expelled because of me."

"Syrus, we won't-"

"Little brother."

Both Jaden and Syrus looked up at Zane, who had since crossed the distance and now stood over them, rather imposing with a hard look on his face. For a long, pregnant moment, the three stood in silence save Syrus' sniffles, and none of us left in the audience dared break it.

"...You did good, Sy." And with that Zane turned and walked away. Alexis broke from the group to catch up with him, while the rest of us joined Jaden and Syrus.

Not much more was said, nor did much more need to be said. The most important part was that Syrus had stopped crying once he heard his brother's words. We returned to our dorms, dispersing in unspoken celebration of Syrus' accomplishments.

* * *

The hour was late, and Erik could not stop looking up from his homework to look at me as I continued my long routine of taking sleeves off the cards of my Metaphys deck. "What are you doing?"

"I've decided I can't play Metaphys anymore. Not regularly, anyway. You remember our first duel, right? Keeping track of all those cards I've banished and when I banished them is misery. I can't be bothered to do that every duel."

"I guess," he said, frowning. "But what does that have to do with you taking the sleeves off?"

"Well, these are some of my 'good' sleeves. I use different sleeves to keep track of my different decks, and these sleeves are for my main decks."

"So, you're dropping the deck, just like that?"

"Well, yeah, basically. I'll take it out for a spin every once in a while, but that's how it goes. Some decks you just stop playing, for whatever reason."

In perhaps subconscious protest, he took his own deck out and clutched at it. "I could never do that to my Lightsworns. They mean too much to me."

I shrugged. The kid was free to hold onto his deck for nostalgia reasons. So as long as he didn't have delusions of grandeur that he would go far competitively, I had no quarrel with him.

"Actually, on that note..." I regarded him curiously, and he stopped, holding his deck to his heart while playing with his fingertips nervously.

"Well. Out with it."

"Do you have any spare sleeves?"

I raised my eyebrow. "I think I can scrounge some up. You want some?"

"I'd like some, yeah. I've decided I care enough about my deck that I want to protect it."

"A surprising development, to be sure. But I'll see what I can do. Remember that, if you put those sleeves on, it's going to be much harder to fit your cards in the duel disks."

"Yeah, I know. But you make it work, right?"

"Hey, if you're up for doing a little elbow grease on your duel disk, and always needing to manually shuffle, I'd happy to oblige."

* * *

I didn't bother attending the expulsion match. Maybe that made be a bit of a bad friend, but I was occupied with other matters. Besides, I had every bit of faith that Jaden and Syrus would pull through.

"What are you doing?" Apple eyed me suspiciously as I catalogued my cards back in my room.

"Am I not permitted to sort my collection in peace? I'm going to ask for a trade-in on my magical companion. I don't even play Magician Girls!"

She huffed. "Well, don't expect a plus-one."

For a moment, I paused, unsure if I had caught something that was intentional. "...Was that a pun on Trade-In? As in, the card?"

"Don't you know that explaining a joke ruins it?"

I rolled my eyes. "Did you pop out of your piece of magical cardboard for a reason, or are you just here to annoy me?

"Trust me, I would rather be spending time with my sisters than with you."

"That's it, I'm looking up 'Magical Companion Replacement Form' on-"

I would have continued, but she held her hand up, and I complied.

"I implore you, please stop your interference. Us in the realm of duel spirits have already had to take great pains to course correct after your actions."

"You already called me to course correct after the interference of some outside threat. Said threat, by the way, I have been told basically nothing about."

"Oh, you weren't my first choice to call, I will tell you that."

"Comforting."

"But, since you are right that we have not told you much, allow me to say what we have discovered since we last talked on the matter."

The world faded away, replaced by a nebulous sea of lights. Images of a hooded council around a table appeared before me. They said nothing, faces shadowed by their overhanging hoods. I didn't get too good a look, but I was fairly sure one of them was a lizardman. I grimaced at the sight. Seeing the identity of my foe at last… was more than a little unsettling, especially seeing that they weren't even human.

"This is our foe - the Council of Zakbanog. They come from another parallel reality, and they conspire to defeat Jaden for some unknown motivation."

"Was that all you figured out? A name?"

"Ahem." Apple fixed me with a look, and I shrugged my shoulders in resignation.

"We have been able to identify that some of their work is done through agents, sent into our world, to interfere with the course of reality. But some of their work is more sinister, done through suggestion and subtle manipulation."

"Oh. They're demons, then. Wonderful."

"If that is how you wish to describe them, then could you take this matter more seriously? Have you forgotten that a whole reality - nay, two whole realities, including the spirit world - is at risk here?"

I sighed. "Look, believe it or not, I am taking this seriously. But if you're going to entrust the course correction of _two whole realities_ to me, can you grant me the trust that when I change the course of your worlds, it's for the better and not the worse?"

Apple regarded me silently for a long moment, and in the awkward gap I chose not to speak. Finally, she let out a tired breath. "I will talk with the others."

That was as good as I was going to get. The lights disappeared, and I was back in my room. I went back to sorting my cards, but now I had two very important things - a named enemy, and a tentative license to do good, not simply be an equal and opposite force.

I had every intention to make the best of both.


	8. Excavating Fossils

_I'd like to thank Yay899, Shou, and GM-san for their prereading of this chapter._

* * *

Jaden and Syrus won their tag duel, of course. I had every bit of faith in them.

With that out of the way, life carried on. The promotion exams were coming up, and while I wasn't concerned about losing, something else did strike me as strange.

After all, in the television show, the promotion exams had come before the expulsion match. It was possible that it was simply a case of showing events out of chronological order for the sake of a narrative, but I had my doubts. Was this a sign that my meddling, through relatively small, was already having major consequences? I couldn't say.

Unfortunately, I had no other leads, and Apple had been unhelpful in deciphering the discrepancy. So I pushed the problem out of my mind for now. I had an exam to pass.

* * *

"So, what deck are you bringing to the promotion exam?" Erik looked over my shoulder as I dug through my deck boxes, each with a unique deck.

"I'm not sure, to be honest. Paralysis by choice - one of the pitfalls of enjoying variety. And don't forget, I have some secrets to keep."

He nodded. "Well, I know what deck I'm bringing."

I chuckled. "Of course you do. Those sleeves treating you well? Can you shuffle smoothly with them?"

"Yeah. Took a bit of getting used to, but I have the hang of it now."

"Now, be careful. Tell me when they start getting scuffed up. If your sleeves are even a little damaged or dirty, it might be possible to tell which cards are in which sleeves, and that would get you in big trouble at a real event. I've got more where those came from, don't worry."

He nodded again. "Now come on! We're going to be late if we don't leave right now."  
With a grunt of frustration, I grabbed my dinosaur deck, Old Faithful, and ran out the door with him.

* * *

Just like the entrance exam, the written portion was a breeze. Forget any questions about competitive theory like ratios or decision trees. The only questions on the exam were about mechanics and rules.

When it was my turn to take the practical portion, I was in for a surprise: my opponent would be an Obelisk Blue, not a Ra Yellow.

"Since you wanted to take an advanced course, I figured now would be a good time to see if you could handle it," Chancellor Sheppard had told me when he pulled me aside earlier. "If you can beat your opponent, I'll grant your request and you just _might_ get a fast track to Obelisk Blue."

"You didn't give me a low-ball so I would pass, did you?"

That got a laugh out of him. "Please. Madison Desjardin is among the top of her class. She'll be your hardest opponent so far, but if you can win, it'll prove you're ready for the increased workload... and increased prestige."

So I took my place on the dueling field, walking to the center to meet Madison. She stood up straight, making use of every inch of her five-two height. Her hair was blue, and she regarded me with a professional, if cold and stiff look.

"Good luck, have fun," I offered, as I stuck my handout for a handshake.  
She said nothing in reply, but accepted my handshake with one firm pump.

We returned to our respective sides of the field, and the duel was on.

 **Madison Desjardin vs Japhlet Gershon**

 **Turn 1 - Madison**

 **Madison - 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand**

 **Japhlet - 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand**

"I'll go first. I draw!" Apparently Madison wasn't into coinflips or rock-paper-scissors.

Looking at my own opening hand, I had mixed feelings. On one hand, I had managed to draw both my Overtex Qoatluses, two rather nasty bricks. I would have much rather preferred I drew some handtraps. On the other hand, I had the OTK combo ready to go with both Ultimate Conductor Tyranno and Souleating Oviraptor in my hand, and depending on the kind of board Madison made, I could use Lost World for some added protection.

For a short moment, she pondered over her cards. Then, with practiced efficiency, she began to play.

"First, I'll activate the spell card, Sylvan Charity! This allows me to draw three cards, and then place two cards on top of my deck in the order I choose, but one of the cards I put back has to be a Sylvan card. However, if I don't have any Sylvan cards in my hand, I have to reveal my hand and then place it on top of my deck in any order I choose."

She drew her three, then revealed Sylvan Snapdrassinagon and Sylvan Hermitree, before placing them back on top of the deck, with Snapdrassinagon on top.

"Next, I'll activate One for One! By sending one monster from my hand to the graveyard, I'm allowed to Special Summon one Level One monster from my deck! So I'll send Lonefire Blossom to the graveyard, and Special Summon Sylvan Peaskeeper in defense mode."

 **Syvan Peaskeeper (400 ATK/100 DEF)**

"When Sylvan Peaskeeper is summoned, I'm allowed to look at the top card of my deck, and if it's a plant, it's sent to the graveyard. Otherwise, it goes to the bottom of my deck instead."

"But since you stacked your deck..." I interrupted.

If she cared that I had butt in, she didn't show it. "...I know exactly what card I'm going to reveal." With practiced ease, she revealed the top card to be Sylvan Snapdrassinagon, and sent it to the graveyard.

"Now I'm allowed to activate the effect of Snapdrassinagon, which lets me look at the top card of my deck again, and once again, if it's a plant, it's sent to the grave, but if it's not, it goes to the bottom of my deck. To that, I'll chain the effect of Sylvan Sagequoia from my hand. When a Sylvan monster is sent to the grave, I'm allowed to Special Summon it from my hand!"

The ground before us broke, and out rose a tree that reached to the ceiling of the duel arena.

 **Sylvan Sagequoia (2600 ATK/2100 DEF)**

After that, Madison revealed the next card on top of her deck to be Sylvan Hermitree, as expected. It too went to the grave.

"When Sylvan Hermitree is sent to the graveyard this way, I'm allowed to look at the top three cards of my deck, and place them in any order I like." Once again, she stacked the top of her deck.

"Now, I'll activate the effect of Sylvan Sagequoia on the field! Once per turn, I'm allowed to reveal the top card of my deck, and if it's a plant, I can send it to my graveyard. Otherwise, it goes to the bottom of my deck."

Once again, Madison excavated the top card of the deck, to reveal another Sylvan Peaskeeper, which she sent to the graveyard.

"When Peaskeeper is excavated and sent to the graveyard, I'm allowed to Special Summon a Level 4 or lower plant from my graveyard. I'll summon Lonefire Blossom!"

 **Lonefire Blossom (500 ATK/1400 DEF)**

"But it won't stay around for long. By tributing one plant I control, which includes Lonefire Blossom, I can Special Summon any plant from my deck! So I'll tribute my Lonefire, to summon Sylvan Hermitree!"

Once again, the ground opened up, and out sprouted another huge tree. This one was not as tall, but its leaf cover spread much wider, overshadowing not only our field, but the entire floor of the stadium.

 **Sylvan Hermitree (2700 ATK/1800 DEF)**

"But when you search a card, you have to shuffle your deck," I pointed out. "So now you don't know what your next card will be."

That got a smirk out of her. "Did you really think I hadn't considered that? Next, I'll activate my field spell, Mount Sylvania."

The stadium faded from view, the stands filled with students only dimly visible. Now we stood at the edge of hilltop, sloping down to reveal a forest so thick the barest peeks of sunlight broke through the tree cover. Next to us was a river, flowing downhill until it broke into a waterfall. Far in the distance, a mountain towered, dominating the cloudless sky.

"This allows me to send a plant from my hand or field to my graveyard, to place a card of my choosing on the top of my deck. So I'll send another Sylvan Snapdrassinagon to the graveyard from my hand, and place another Hermitree on the top of my deck."

"Now, Snapdrassinagon's effect activates, and lets me excavate the top of my deck, which will reveal the Hermitree I placed on the top of my deck. So Hermitree is sent to the graveyard, and then its effect activates, which lets me once again rearrange the cards on the top of my deck."

She flashed me a smug smile. "And just like that, I'm back in control of my deck. And because I'm in control of my deck, I think I'll activate Hermitree's effect on the field. I'm sure you can guess where this is going."

"Well, if I _had_ to guess, I'd say you're going to excavate the top card of your deck, and if it's a plant, it'll go to your graveyard where it'll probably activate its effect. And, memory serve me right, Hermitree draws a card if it excavates a plant, too."

"Very good. Maybe I'll still recommend you for advancement after you lose."

"Hey, hey, hey. No counting the chickens before they hatch."

"Well, I think you can let me count them after I resolve Hermitree." She excavated a Sylvan Flowerknight, which was sent to the graveyard. After that, she drew another card.

"When Flowerknight is excavated and sent to the graveyard, I'm allowed to place a Sylvan monster on top of my deck. I'll place Sylvan Marshalleaf on top. Then I'll set one card face-down, and end my turn."

It was an impressive board, to be sure. Madison had manipulated her deck masterfully, rearranging the top card and excavating it so that she would activate just the effect she needed, done repeatedly in one turn. Her efforts let her summon two large beatsticks, and still left stacked cards on top of her deck for the next turn or two. All that, on top of a facedown. But I had faced worse before. I met her small, smug smile with a smirk of my own.

 **Turn 2 - Japhlet**

 **Madison - 4000 LP, 0 cards in hand**

 **Japhlet - 4000 LP, 5 cards in hand**

I drew for turn and my smile only grew.

"It's my turn. First, I'll activate my own field spell, Lost World!" The mountain began to rumble, and the ground quaked beneath us. Birds took to the skies and the cries of the forest animals filled the air as they fled.

Suddenly, the mountain burst open, and a cloud of ash poured forth. It spilled over the mountainside and billowed over the forest, trampling everything underneath. In the blink of an eye, the wave of ash and smoke reached us, and we hunched over, covering our faces from the holographic volcanic ash.

Eventually, the smoke storm passed, and after a few coughing fits, we both stood up to a much different world. No longer was the was the air filled with the twitter of birds, but the roars of dinosaurs. The volcano in the background, though no longer erupting, still billowed a pillar of smoke.

"Not that I don't love a good nature hike, but I needed a change of scenery. Something more prehistoric. While we're in the Lost World, all non-dinosaurs lose 500 attack and defense points."

 **Sylvan Sagequoia (2600 ATK/2100 DEF - 2100 ATK/1600 DEF)**

 **Sylvan Hermitree (2700 ATK/1800 DEF - 2200 ATK/1300 DEF)**

 **Sylvan Peaskeeper (400 ATK/100 DEF - 0 ATK/0 DEF)**

"Next, I'll activate the effect of the card I drew - Miscellaneousaurus - from my hand. By sending it to the graveyard, my dinosaurs are protected from your effects during the main phase."

Madison said nothing, but the way she grit her teeth told me I had messed with her plans.

It was smooth sailing from here. Banish Misc, Special Summon Aeolo, Normal Summon Oviraptor, add Dogoran to my hand since I already had UCT, Synchro Summon Chanbara, banish Aeolo and Ovirap-

Wait a minute. I couldn't Synchro Summon here. It was one thing to do it in private games, but out here in public? I could end up in serious trouble, or at the very least jeopardize my promotion and class advancement.

Thankfully, adjusting the combo was simple, and while it wouldn't be optimal, it would be more than sufficient here. Madison had summoned multiple monsters to the field, which was just what I needed.

"After that, I'll Normal Summon Souleating Oviraptor."

 **Souleating Oviraptor (1800 ATK/500 DEF)**

"When Souleating Oviraptor is summoned, I'm allowed to take a dinosaur from my deck and either add it to my hand or send it to the graveyard. Also, once per turn, when a dinosaur is summoned, Lost World lets me give you a Juraegg Token. So that'll be Oviraptor chain link one, Lost World chain link two. Response?"

Once again she grit her teeth, but shook her head. Once she did, an egg appeared on Madison's side of the field.

 **Juraegg Token (0 ATK/0 DEF)**

"Next, I'll use Oviraptor's effect to send Giant Rex from my deck to the graveyard."

The stage was set. All the pieces were in place. I allowed myself to take a breather, studying Madison's face. Hers was cold steel, eyes locked back on me. Now it was my turn to give her a small, smug smile.

"All in! I banish Giant Rex and Miscellaneousaurus from my graveyard..."

Once again, the ground shook, but this time for a very different reason.

 _"Feel the earth shudder, and witness the heavens rend!_ _See where the ultimate and supreme combine!_ _Tremble before the undisputed king: Ultimate Conductor Tyranno!"_

Behind me, the ground tore open, and from out of the earth rose my favorite monster. As it emerged, the markings along its side and tail began to light up, glowing with a purple flame. A low, guttural growl emanated from its throat as dirt slowly fell off it as it rose to full height, standing nearly as tall as the great trees of Madison. Finally, it stepped fully out of the earth, and let out a mighty roar to announce its arrival.

 **Ultimate Conductor Tyranno (3500 ATK/3200 DEF)**

The other students in the stands sure hadn't seen anything like it before.

"W-What is that thing?"

"It's huge!"

"How is this a fair duel?"

The duel was over. All that was left was to play out the last remaining moves for checkmate. "First, I'll activate the effect of Giant Rex. Once per turn, when Giant Rex is banished, I'm allowed to summon him. So come on out!"

 **Giant Rex (2000 ATK/1200 DEF)**

"And when he's summoned this way, he gains 200 ATK for every other dinosaur banished. Misc makes one, so Giant Rex gains 200 ATK."

 **Giant Rex (2000 ATK/1200 DEF - 2200 ATK/1200 DEF)**

"Enter the battle phase?" It was polite to observe proper decorum even in a commanding position. It also kept you from getting PE Minors.

She nodded, and I outstretched my arm to command my beast. "Ultimate Conductor Tyranno attacks Sylvan Sagequoia!"

"Not so fast! I reveal my trap card, Back to the Front! This lets me summon one monster from my graveyard in defense position, so I'll bring back another Peaskeeper!"

 **Sylvan Peaskeeper (400 ATK/100 DEF)**

"Don't forget that your Peaskeeper loses 500 because of Lost World."

 **Sylvan Peaskeeper (400 ATK/100 DEF - 0 ATK/0 DEF)**

"Don't worry, I didn't forget. The important part is that, because Peaskeeper was summoned, I'm allowed to excavate the top card of my deck, and once again, if it's a plant, I send it to the graveyard. Of course, I already placed Marshalleaf on the top of my deck."

So as prepared, Marshalleaf was revealed and sent to the graveyard.

"Marshalleaf's effect activates! When it's sent to the graveyard this way, I'm allowed to target a monster on the field, and destroy it! So say goodbye to your giant dinosaur!"

"Not quite, I'm afraid. Thanks to Lost World, because you control a token, you can only target tokens with your effects. So instead of destroying my Ultimate Conductor Tyranno, you can only destroy my token." Maybe I should have explained this when I first summoned the token, but she could have always read the card herself. That one episode of Arc-V proved it.

She grimaced. "Well, if I want to be able to use my effects, I'm going to have to get rid of that token. So I'll destroy it with Marshalleaf's effect."

"Maybe so, but you still have to deal with the big dino himself! UCT, finish what you started!"

At the cue, UCT let out another roar, before stomping forward and biting down on Sageuoita's trunk. The tree let out a singular cry of pain before it burst into holographic sparkles.

 **Madison LP 4000 - 2600**

I could see the gears turning in Madison's head. She was already figuring out how to recover on her next turn. Pity she had made a critical miscalculation.

"Ultimate Conductor Tyranno attacks the first Peaskeeper!"

"What? But it already attacked this turn!"

"That's the neat thing about UCT. During each battle phase, UCT is allowed to attack all monsters you control once! Furthermore, when UCT attacks a defense position monster, I'm allowed to deal you a thousand damage and send your monster to the graveyard instead of destroying it and doing damage calculation."

She could see the writing on the wall. With a sigh of resignation, she pulled her deck from her duel disk. As she did so, the holograms faded away, and we returned to laminated floors and plastic bleachers.

I put away my own cards and walked over to shake her hand. "You did pretty good. That was an impressive turn one board, all things considered."

She accepted the handshake, but her own face was reserved, almost shy. "I lost. I'm going to take another look at my deck."

"Don't look so beat up. Sometimes, your opponent just draws the nuts. It happens. Although, if you want a runback, I'm always down."

She regarded me strangely for a moment, before turning around and walking towards one of the exits.

I headed for another exit, where I ran into a Jaden who was strangely irate to see me.

"Bro, where were you last week?"

I paused. He wasn't talking about the expulsion match, was he?

"Syrus nearly had a nervous breakdown because he couldn't see you in the stands. We only barely won because he couldn't focus."

That was surprising. I hadn't realized I meant that much to the little guy.

"I didn't know. I'll have to go apologize to him."

That placated Jaden for now. "He should be in the stands somewhere. Think he already won his promotion exam. Wish me luck. Apparently, I have to face Chazz for mine."

"Don't worry. You got this." I clapped him on the shoulder with one last well wish as he went to face Chazz, and then I started leaving for the stands. I owed someone an apology.

* * *

Thankfully, Syrus wasn't too hard to find. He was short, but his hair was more than distinctive enough to spot out of a crowd. And lucky for me, there was an open seat next to him.

For a moment, I hesitated. Jaden had made it sound like my absence had been pretty hard on him, and dealing with that in the middle of a crowded arena seemed like a poor idea. But I didn't want to let the bad feelings fester any longer, so I moved to sit down next to him.

When he saw me, he first tried to appear standoffish, refusing to acknowledge my presence.

"Hey, Sy."

That was as far as I got before he hugged me, grabbed me, and started bawling into my chest.

"I was so worried when I didn't see you! I thought you had left me behind!"

Trying to preserve both Syrus' dignity and my own, I eased him off me and offered him a tissue. "Sorry about not showing up. I had every bit of faith you would win, and that's why I wasn't there. I didn't realize it would be that hard on you."

Syrus said nothing, but seemed to accept the apology as he sniffled into the tissues.

"Now come on. How is Jaden going to win if his number one fan is crying his eyes out?"

Thankfully, the duel have Syrus something else to think and talk about. "Speaking of, have you been paying attention to his duel? I don't know where Chazz got so many rare cards..."


End file.
